Bnovx.— Insects Injurious to Kauri Pine (Dammara australis). — 869 
me to make a minute examination with my pocket lens, but had time been 
sufficient, the assistance of a miscroscope, an indispensable instrument 
when investigating the habits of insects, as well as their structural charac- 
ters, was not within reach. I could only note that the flattened elongated 
form of the larva was one admirably adapted to its habitat. 
The beetle which continues the work of destruction after the others have 
been disposed of, is ** Dryoptherus bi-tuberculatus," a species of the Cossonides, 
so named by White (* Voyage, ‘Erebus’ and. * Terror; " Insects) but 
its generie name will be eventually altered, the insect having been 
referred to a genus to which it has no near affinity. It is tolerably 
abundant in districts possessing Kauri forests, and is occasionally found upon 
the foliage of other trees and shrubs, when it is usually enveloped in, or 
only partially covered with, a thick white pubescent coating, which has 
disappeared by the time it is found embedded in Kauri logs. 
Dryoptherus bi-tuberculatus seems indifferent to the shelter of the ek so 
essential to the other weevil whose habits have been described, and being 
more fastidious, requires the almost complete decomposition of the gum, in 
order that suitable food may be available for its offspring. Logs in the 
condition indicated are pierced with holes corresponding to the size of the 
insect, and the eggs deposited therein; when these have arrived at the 
larval stage of their existence, the real work of destruction begins in earnest, 
and is carried on uninterruptedly by the perfect insect, until the entire bulk 
of the sap-wood is so completely perforated as to resemble honey-comb. 
Fortunately, however, it is generally only the outer portions of this 
valuable tree which are thus rendered valueless as a marketable commodity, 
and it is satisfactory to be assured that only those logs that are negligently 
treated, suffer the injury which this insect is so well capable of inflicting. 
The logs having been passed through the saw-mill, and used in house 
building, would, it might be supposed, be exempt from further attacks by 
insects of the weevil tribe; such a supposition would be incorrect, as I have 
noticed unpainted weather-boards of buildings in the town of Auckland with 
small cylindrical holes bored into them in such a way that one might cast 
the blame on Xenocnema spinipes ; in this instance, however, it is not the 
delinquent, the real perpetrator of the mischief being a species of the 
Seolytides, which is, as yet, I believe, nondescript. 
It might be imagined that the depredations TRU by the weevils 
already mentioned, would be sufficient proof of the destructive propensities 
of insects, but I am assured by Mr. John Macfarlane, the Manager of the 
Tairua Saw-mills Company's property, that a large ** grub," said to be eaten 
with avidity by the Maoris, frequently perforates the solid wood. I have 
not had an opportunity of personally inspeeting such logs, but from the 
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