32 



upon myrtle and orange. Was also met with in other places. Its food appears to 

 be various and with us it will iced no doubt on Lecanium as well as Aspidiotus, and 

 Likely upon Chionaspis. This insect was sent to California in numbers. 



Scymnua wh-ittonensis Black b. — The insect was found at Whitton, New South Wales, 

 upon various trees and very likely feeding upon Aspidiotus; also at Parraniatta 

 upon orange infested with the Red Scale and bred from a small larva covered all 

 over with long, curled, white cottony appendages. The beetle was sent to Cali- 

 fornia. 



Seym tuts queenslandicus Blackb. — This is another of the species sent here. It was 

 found chiefly upon orange affected by black and red scales in New South Wales and 

 Queensland. The species sent from New Zealand, as Scymnus accept-as, S. consors, S. 

 viUosus, S. flavihirtus, S.fagns, and S. jricinus, were chiefly found upon Aspidiotus and 

 Ctenochiton. The last named closely resembles the common Australian Bhizobius 

 satcllus Blackb. 



Scymnus australasicB Blackb. — Another quite common form found in New South 

 Wales upon orange, and here probably feeding upon the Red Scale; also upon Lecan- 

 ium cassinia Mask, at Parramatta; numerous at Toowoomba. Queensland, upon 

 orange, and at various other places. Without doubt it will feed upon the Red Scale 

 in California. The genus Bhizobius is largely represented in Australia. Crotch 

 mentions eight species from that country, one from Europe, two from Cape of Good 

 Hope, and one from Madeira. I have but four species of this, including Bodatus 

 boncardi Crotch, which was placed under Bhizobius by Rev. Mr. Blackburn. All the 

 others have been or will be described by Rev. Mr. Blackburn in the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society of South Australia. The insects closely resemble Scymnus in their 

 habits, are great devourers of various coccids, and larva' of the same can be found at 

 any time during the year. I can not state the exact number of broods, but should 

 think there are at least six.* Some of tho species are quite large, and we can hope 

 for the best results from all the introduced species of this group. As yet I am only 

 aware of two of the species bleeding in California, but others will turn up. B. ren- 

 tralis Muls. and B. debilis Blackb. were both found iu numbers with Hon. Ellwood 

 Cooper, at Santa Barbara, on September 4, 1892, upon Lecanium oleas Bernard, and 

 the last-named species is breeding upon Aspidiotus perniciosus Comst., here at Ala- 

 meda. 



Bhizobius boncardi Crotch. — This insect is described from Moreton Bay, Queensland. 

 I found but one single specimen near Sydney, under bark of Eucalyptus, and a second 

 seen in same place was lost. On the same tree numbers of cocoons of Thalpockares 

 were found, showing that the tree was infested with EHococcus, upon which this beetle 

 no doubt feeds. It may become of value in feeding upon some of our coccids — very 

 likely Lecanium — if introduced, and as this is probably the largest of all the Rhizo- 

 biids, measuring over 6 mm. in length, it would prove a valuable addition to tho 

 already introduced species. The species will prove to be common in Queensland. 



Bhizobius ventralis Erich. — One of tin' most numerous of all the Coceinellhhe in 

 South Australia and Victoria, becoming more rare toward Queensland. During my 

 former trip I have actually seen these beetles by the handfnls sitting under barfc of 

 Eucalyptus that was infested with EHOCOCCUS eucalypti Mask., upon which they feed, 

 at Melbonrne and Adelaide. I did not recognize the insect at fust on this last trip at 

 Sydney, wherethey were found upon various Lecanium, on citrus, and on other trees ; 



in fact, the larva' feeding upon these are much lighter in color that those feeding 



on Eriococcus. I saw in this the most effective enemy for all our Lecanium and a 

 good supply of the mature beetles was sent to California by every steamer. Hon. 



1 1 i .hi i H. i 1 1. stated, aor even properlj estimated, the number of broods these insects have, the 

 \\illv;n\ according to the coccids bhej feed upon. It. vmtralis m&y go through the whole tranefi 

 ination in about three weeks upon soft food, such ;is /.'< iocoa »*■. while upon other coccids no( in fare 

 able condition the lite history maj be prolonged to two months or even more. I uave found nunu 

 ous beetles hibernating in drj Beason at Melbourne and awaiting the return of rain and with it U 



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