294 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Iclineumons — a tribe of parasitic insects the most valuable of all, for 

 scarcely an insect exists that is not exposed to the attack of one species or 

 another of them. Every species of ichneumon has its particular species 

 of insect uj^on which its larvae exist. The victim is generally the larva (in 

 some cases the egg or pupa) of some other insect. The egg of the parasite 

 having been deposited by means of a long ovipositor, and hatched in the body 

 of its victim, the parasite grub there feeds upon it, for days and months, 

 devouring all but the vital organs ; and so accurately is the supply of food 

 proportioned to the demand that the victim lives just long enough for the 

 parasitic grub to become full-fed and ready to assume the pupa state. 



I have now only to indicate what birds are most valuable for us to intro- 

 duce and acclimatize. 



Thanks to our Acclimatization Society, many useful birds have already been 

 introduced, and thoroughly established. Pheasants, sparrows, and chaffinches 

 are plentiful ; and many other birds (included in the list below), though at 

 present scarce, seem to have obtained a firm footing. 



To enumerate all the useful birds it is desirable to introduce would occupy 

 more space than can be afforded in this paper, and I, therefore, confine myself 

 to suggesting the few I have named in the list below ; and, in selecting from 

 such list, it should be a matter for consideration what species will increase the 

 most rapidly, and spread over the country ; and it should be borne in mind 

 that many of the birds which live entirely on insect food are less valuable, for 

 the purposes for which we require them, than others not wholly insectivorous, 

 and that gregarious birds are preferable to those comparatively solitary. 



The following is the list of birds recommended as insectivorous in their 

 habits : — Rooks, jackdaws, partridges, landrails, starlings, skylarks, quails, 

 plovers, redpolls, swallows, martens, swifts, blackbirds, thrushes, pipits, wag- 

 tails, nightingales, tits and their allied species, and wrens. 



Art. XXXIV. — Remarks on the Coleoptera of Canterbury, New Zealand. 



By C. M. Wakefield. 



\Rexid before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4:th September, 1872.] 



Before commencing my brief review of the Coleoptera of this province I trust 

 I may be permitted to make a few observations upon the diffi.culties which 

 beset the entomological student in New Zealand, and upon the means by 

 which in my opinion they may be obviated. For several years I have taken 

 much interest in the beetles of this colony, and have collected them so far as 

 my avocations would permit. At every step of my inquiry, however, I have 

 been met and thwarted by an obstacle which I apprehend is familiar to all 



