ON THE " MANNA." OE LEEP INSECT OF SOUTH AUSTEALIA. 109 



Eemarks on the " Manna " or Lerp Insect of South Australia. 

 By J. a. Otto Teppee, F.L.S. 



[Eead February 15, 1883.] 



The natural production of Australia known by the various cog- 

 nomens of " Manna " by the colonists, " Lerp " by the natives of 

 Victoria &c., and " Melitose " by others has excited frequently 

 the inquiries of those who met with it. 



Mr. Greorge Bennett, in his work ' Gatherings of a Naturalist 

 in Australia,' 1860, p. 272, says that the natives ascribe it to the 

 Tettigonia ; but adds that " it has been ascertained to be secreted 

 by an insect of the genus Psylla" in which he most likely comes 

 very near the truth. 



Prof. Fred. M'Coy, describing the Grreat Black or Manna 

 Cicada (^Cicada moerens, Germ.), in the fifth Decade of his ' Na- 

 tural History of Victoria,' says (p. 55): — "This large species of 

 Cicada piercing the young twigs of the Peppermint Gum-tree [of 

 Victoria, O. T.], Eucalyptus viminalis, causes an abundant exu- 

 dation of sap, which, drying in the hot parched air of the mid- 

 summer, leaves the sugary solid remains in a gradually increas- 

 ing lump, which ultimately falls off, covering the ground with 

 a sort of white sweet manna in little irregular masses. This 

 peculiar kind of manna is the ' Melitose ' of chemists." He 

 gives thereby expression to the current belief in the Australian 

 provinces, but which my observations, extending over twenty 

 years, lead me to consider as not founded on facts in so far as 

 this province (South Australia) is concerned. 



I may mention that there are at least two different kinds of 

 manna, if not more. The kind referred to by Mr. Bennett is 

 entirely different in form and consistency from that referred to 

 by Prof. M'Coy. One occurs in a solid form around the branches 

 or on the leaves of Eucalypts, as Eucalyptus oleosa and jE'. odorata. 

 The other originally exists as a moderately viscid fluid under 

 the thin pieces of bark, peeling off, but held by their extremities, 

 or through the insuflGicient slit of their converging edges, for 

 some time to the branchlet. That Cicadce produce and eject 

 to considerable distances a viscid transparent fluid is certainly 

 the case, as it is often proved, to the annoyance of parties who 

 wish to enjoy their lunch in the shade of such trees the CicadcB 

 inhabit in number, as on the western slopes of the ranges near 



LINN. JOURN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XVII. 9 



