38 



are destructive to vegetation — one species, pre-eminently so 

 at times, I described in a paper published in the " Transactions 

 of the Adelaide Philosophical Society, 1878," and named it 

 provisionally " Melolontha destructor." Some smaller species 

 are occasionally as destructive in proportion to their size upon 

 small bushes, but are seldom noticed The Butelidce are repre- 

 sented by two genera — Anoplognatlms (one species) and 

 Repsimus (three sj>ecies, perhaps only local varieties). All are 

 large beetles, and the individuals of the former frequently 

 swarm in hundreds during warm evenings in spring, buzzing 

 among the leafy tops of Eucalyptus rostrata and _Z?. viminalis. 

 Their browsing in zigzag lines betrays them unerringly to the 

 observer, as no other South Australian beetle seems to indulge 

 in this singular habit. Scarahceus, and four or five allied genera, 

 furnish 19 species, most of medium size, some attaining one 

 inch in length. Gryplwdes musters 7 species ; Trichius 1 ; 

 Copris, Geotrupes, and the rare JBolhoceras 19 collectively. The 

 commonest of the Coprida, also the largest, infests the drop- 

 pings of cattle, &c, in numbers, and drills deep circular holes 

 in the hardest soil underneath for the accommodation of its 

 eggs and larvae, for which purpose it is fitted with a large 

 horn upon the head and four on the prothorax. Its colour is a 

 dark, glossy chestnut. The family of the beautifully-formed 

 Getonias contains three genera, of which ScliizorrMna is the 

 most numerous, containing 8 species, the other two being 

 represented by one each only. The largest of the ScliizorrMna, 

 said to be from Mount Remarkable, measures one and a 

 half inches. The smallest Getonia of another genus exceed 

 half inch scarcely, and was noticed at Callington, but is 

 numerous at Ardrossan. One of the ScMzorrMnas, jet 

 black, with green spots upon the upper and bright yellow 

 markings on its legs and abdomen, lives upon Eucalyptus 

 viminalis, the larvae inhabiting the decaying inner portion 

 of the same tree's, and when entering into the chrysalis 

 state form oval, cocoon-like cases for themselves by glueing 

 together their own hard, roundish excrements and grains of 

 soil. JPassalus seems unrepresented in our neighbourhood, but 

 Mount G-ambier furnishes one large species, similar, if not 

 identical, to a Victorian ally, and one and a half inches 

 long. Figulus contains five closely allied species, all of 

 which (and larvae as well as imago) inhabit dead decaying 

 wood. Of the magnificently - coloured Lamprimus two 

 species are represented. Both are similarly coloured — 

 the males of a brilliant metallic golden hue, the females 

 of a lustrous golden green; but in the one species, 

 which feeds tipon the large native marshmallows, the male 

 exceeds the female much in size, while in the other, feeding 



