158 IIOUN EXPEDITION — SUMMARY. 



laiul, New South Wales and Victoria, and to the north Island of New Zealand. 

 It is not at present possible to draw any conclusions with regard to the distribu- 

 tion of spiders in Australia as the j^reat majority of those Jiithei-to described ha\o 

 l)een collected in Queensland and New Houth Wales, the western and .southern part 

 of the continent havini;- ])cen but little explored so far as this group is concerned. 



The most interesting forms are the new species, Nephila ereininnn, the large 

 orb we))s of which, extending across as much as ten or twelve feet fi'om tree to 

 tree, foi-m a prominent feature in the more open scrub, and the Queensland 

 r/i/o<^i!is crassipcs, the largest of the Austi-alian tunnel-forming spiders, whii-h is 

 intei-esting as possessing a well-developed stridulating organ. 



IIyi)U'nopte)-a. — In the Hynienoptera, of which only thirty-one species are 

 described, the most interesting forms aie (1) the little black, yellow-footed ant 

 foi'ining its nest out of sand particles fastened together with the resinous secretion 

 of (he porcupine grass, and (2) three species of " honey-ants." The porcupine- 

 grass ant has l)een desci'ibeil by Mr. W. F. Kirby as a new species under the 

 name of Hypoclinca flavipcs, and judging by the way in which the curious and 

 characteristic so-called "galleries" which are always made by it in the country 

 traversed l^y us, have been described from various parts of the interior, the 

 species is probably widely spread over and at the .same time peculiar to the 

 interior of the continent. Its distribution may very likely be coterminous with 

 that of the resin-producing species of Triodia. 



In the " honey ants " ]\Ir. Froggatt descriljos three species, two of which are 

 new. CainpoiwtKs iiijlat/is, L\d)bock, is evidently widely spread over Central and 

 West Australia, whilst as yet C. cfliclei, Froggatt, and C. uii'das, Frogg;itt, are only- 

 known from restricted areas amongst the central ranges. 



Oli^flchcrla. — Of eartliworms only a single .species is known, which is referable 

 to the genus Acanthodrilus. As already described,* the sporadic distribution of 

 the species in the centre together with the absence of genera, at present 

 cha,ractei'istic of the more coastal pai'ts of the continent point to the fact that 

 the genus Acanthodrilus was more widely spread over the north-eastern part of 

 the continent in fornu>r times, when there was no such climatic barrier as now 

 exists separating the centre from outlying parts, than it is at the present day. 

 In all piobability the species of Microphyui'a and Acanthodrilus passed across to 

 th(! Centic fiom the north at the same time, and with the change in climate whicii 

 succeeded Pliocene times have been isolated. 



* Zoolo-ical Ucpoi-ts, Part II., p. 41G. 



