
436 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MUSEUM 
Insects. 
The Red Gum Ghost Moth (Trictena argentata). According to an article 
in Wild Life (Vol, 6, No, 3, p. 90, 1944), natives used both the grubs and the 
adult moths of this inseet, The moths at night were attracted by the light and 
fell into the fire and there were partly roasted. G. French Angas in describing! the 
natives of South Australia (p, 83) says that ‘they are especially fond of the cster- 
pillar of a large species of moth; which, like the Cossus of the Romans, is regarded 
as ai delicacy: it is a fleshy grub, of a cream colowr, about three or four in. long, 
and is found in the decaying wood of the Hucalyptus. The natives are very expert 
in discovering the retreats of these Insects, and draw them out by inserting into 
their holes a thin twig, at the end of which a wooden hook is attached; this instru- 
ment is worn behind the ear of the men, and is called pileyah, or pirri™’. 
The Banksia Longicorn (Mnemopulis edulis). The fat cream larva of this 
brown longicorn beetle found in the wood of Banksia marginata was.a favourite 
food of the blacks, according to an article in Wild Lafe, Vol. 6, No, 1, 1944, p. 6, 
Both of these trees graw in the Sauth-Hast, the Banksia over the whole of 
the distriet of the Buandik Tribe, but. the Red Gums in the flat country of the 
eastern part of the range of the tribe. 
Aquatic Beetles. G, French Angas notes that at a native campfire near 
Lake Frome the natives had been roasting aquatic beetles which he says, ‘‘here 
formed an article of food amongst these miserable ereatures’’, 
Begs of ants. Mrs, Smith says that Purter was the name given to a white 
ant’s egg (really larva). The tse of 4 native name for this white ant larva sug- 
geste that it was eaten. 
The native stingless bee does not occur in this region, so honeycomb was not. 
available, 
The Sugar-lerp Insect, Spendylaspis encalyptr. The sweet waxy secretion of 
this.insect belonging to the Psyllidae was collected and eaten by the natives prob- 
ably wherever it oceirred, The Manna Gum, Hucolyptus viminalis, derives its 
vernacular name from its being a host of the Sugar-lerp inseet, Both this eucalypt 
and the insect occur in the Sonth-Hast, 
Mou.usca (Shell-Fish). 
On the camp sites near the coast of Cape Buffon and from Cape Banks to 
nine miles south-east the shells of Turbo undulatus Solander are yery abindant, 
As it is now nearly a hundred years since aboriginals are likely to have used these 
for food, it is clear that the shells that are now ta be found may represent the 
accumulations over a period of many years at one particular level. Moreover, as 
drifting sand may bury the shells, superimposed layers may have existed and then 
the shells of the different ages may have been brought together later when the 
sand blew away. However, at any one midden, the shells seemed uniformly 
weathered in appearance. These shells have portion of the outer lip broken sway 
te such an extent as might have exposed the retracted operculum after the shell 
had been cooked im hot ashes. Many shells have a large window knocked in the 
largest whorl. Some shélls are practically quite intact, and shell fragmenta alsa 
exist. Mr, B. C. Cotton is of the opinion that the large windows are such as 
might occur if the shells had been dropped on a hard surface or alternatively hit. by 
a stone, He suggests that the natives in extracting a shell-fish for food would 
probably break the shell into fragments and pick the cooked. fish ont of these, 
Tr seems quite likely that some of the fine stone points collected in abundance on 
these camp sites may have been used by the natives to extract she cooked shellfish 
