4 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S KECORD. 



it treats of, viz., 9^ inches [Xyleutes) and 11 inches (Coscinocera) in 

 expanse. 



There is a short note by Mr. F. P. Dodd on " Noise producing 

 Lepidoptera " (of Australia), a number of which are the pupte of 

 myrmecophilous Lycaenids. There follows a notice of Coscinocera 

 hercules, by Monsieur Oberthiir. The species was first described by 

 Miekin, in the " Proc. and Trans, of the Ent. Soc. Lond.," in 1875 and 

 1876. This is illustrated by full size photographs of the moths, one of 

 which, a female, is eleven inches in expanse. Another, a male, has 

 three antennse, in connection with which is a photograph of a three- 

 antenn^ed specimen of Doleshallia amhoinensis. There are also photo- 

 graphs of the enormous larvse of C. hercules (by F. P. Dodd), they are 

 6^ inches long and a full inch in thickness. 



Then follow biological notes on C. hercules and on Australian 

 Cossidae, by Mr. Dodd. Amongst other items is a record of a 2 of C. 

 hercules placed on a shrub, which remained unattended for two days, 

 but on the third morning she was connected to a tine large male and 

 another closely in attendance. The first male separated in the after- 

 noon, the second was connected the following morning and remained 

 so for 24 hours. There are photographs of these insects on these two 

 mornings, of the three, then two moths. These remarkable facts are 

 well reported and well illustrated. 



Mr. Dodd's notes on the Cossidae show that Brisbane is very rich in 

 this group. It appears that the natives, who esteem the larvse much as 

 food, keep the species in check, but where there are no natives now, 

 they tend to increase so as to be destructively abundant. The natives, 

 however, shrink from the labour of extracting the larvfe from solid 

 timber when other food is abundant. 



He says that the great longevity of these larvffi is a mere Mun- 

 chausen tale, that no species exceeds three years as a larva, and two is 

 the most usual length of life in most species. There is a detailed life- 

 history of Xyleutes boisduvali, with notes on other species ; a remark- 

 able fact is that if the food fails from the death of the tree or other 

 cause, the insect pupates and emerges though only one-third grown, 

 the moth expanding 2| inches instead of 6 or 7, 



There are seven photographs of country and scenery about Kuranda 

 in the Cairns district. M. Oberthiir next describes three new species of 

 Xyleutes, with notes on other species. M. Oberthiir dedicates one new 

 species, X. viackeri, to the son (Lieut.-Col. Leon Macker, killed at 

 Verdun) of his dear old friend DocteurEmile Macker, Vice-President of 

 the Natural History Society of Colmar. A record of the battles at the 

 Bois de Corbeaux, in which Colonel Macker was killed, from the Xou- 

 velliste de Bretac/ne, is added. In addition to these new species are notes 

 • on a number of others, illustrated by twenty-five photographic plates. 

 These strike me as being the perfection of photographic representa- 

 tion (without colour). The insects presenting combinations of dark 

 and light shades, without bright colours, are almost as eflectively shown 

 as if colour were added. 



Part vi. is on the geographical distribution oi Xyleutes, and descrip- 

 tions of seven new species by Prof. C. Houlbert. This consists of some 

 65 pp., with many text figures. The Cossidae a,i:e a very ancient family, 

 Xyleutes is more closely related to Zeuzera than to Cossus, both by the 

 S- antennae and the neuration. Prof. Houlbert groups Xyleutes into 



