﻿CHALCOPHORA IN THE SCRUBS OP CENTRAL QUEENSLAND. 179 



the abundance is more often noted in the larval than in the 

 perfect state, and the districts affected are generally of small 

 area, — all facts tending to the probability of local influences 

 being the immediate cause ; but we must not overlook the report 

 from Heligoland Lighthouse, which distinctly mentions large 

 flights of H. defoliaria, &c. It must not be supposed that these 

 would include the wingless females ; but it is far from improbable 

 that the arrival of numbers of the opposite sex would materially 

 affect the status of the species here, and possibly become a factor 

 in the occasional abundance of the larva. Pieris brassier has 

 been observed moving in immense numbers, both at sea and on 

 our coasts, and the migratory swarms of Vanessa cardui that 

 passed through many parts of Continental Europe in 1879 were 

 the forerunners of an abundance of the species in this country 

 in the same year. Colias edusa, Acherontia atropos, Sphinx 

 convolvuli, Deilephila galii, and Plusia gamma, also furnish a 

 considerable amount of evidence, which, however incomplete it 

 may be, tends to the conclusion that immigration is a chief factor 

 in the causes of great abundance occasionally observed, and in 

 some instances the direct and only cause. 

 4, Lingard's Road, Lewisham, S.E. 



CHALCOPHORA in the SCRUBS of CENTRAL QUEENSLAND . 



By Geo. Barnard. 



One hot day in January, the thermometer at 94° in the shade, 

 we — that is, I and my sons — determined to have an entomological 

 hunt for some of the fine Chalcophora inhabiting the scrubs in 

 our neighbourhood. A hot bright day, though unpleasantly warm 

 for us, was just the time for the sun-loving beetles, to be showing 

 in abundance. We started, therefore, in anticipation of a good 

 day's sport, and, as the sequel will show, we were not disappointed. 

 A walk of little over a mile brought us to the edge of a large 

 scrub, fringed by what is commonly called oak, a species of 

 Casurina. This was the feeding-ground of Chalcophora vittata, 

 which eats the leaves of the oak. A heavy thud with a tomahawk 

 jars the tree, and causes any vittata to fly off with a loud buzz, 

 and if it flies low, — which it generally does at the first drop, — 

 being a heavy flyer it is speedily netted. Many escape by flying 

 too high, the bushes always hindering more or less and making it 

 heavy work ; so after catching about a dozen we decided to move 

 on and look for C. ajax, one of the finest of our Chalcophora?, 

 This insect feeds on the leaves of a broad-leafed species of 

 Eucalyptus, — a heavy gnarled tree, putting one in mind of the 

 grand old oaks at home. These trees are scattered singly in the 



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