during warm weather being about lour days, at the end of which time but very few 

 could be found alive had they not been provided with food Very likely at the time 



these beetles were ready to go into hibernation. One specimen was also found at 

 Mount Victoria, New South Wales, March 28, 1892, upon Lepiospeifiium Icevigatumin- 

 fested with Erioeoccua leptospermi Mask. The insect appears to bo more common in 

 Queensland, as Mr. Tryon informed me. 



Mr. Tryon, in "Insects and Fungus rests," p. 136, says of this beetle as "being an 

 especial enemy of the Glover's scale (Mytilaspis Gloverii, Pack), gnawing through 

 the apex of the covering of one individual alter another. This is the largest of all 

 the Orcua and its introduction upon our scales would be highly advisable. Many 

 specimens were sent to Mr. Coquillett. 



Trichorcus ductus Blackb.— Rev. Blackburn described this insect under this name* 

 from specimens hied, the pupa of which was found attached to small rootlets of 

 Moreton Hay Fig Ficm macrophylla Desfontaincs), on the Clarence River, Now South 

 Wales. Several empty pupae and parasitized larvae were also present, showing that 

 this curious form is not exempt from the attacks of the Homalotylus parasite. The 

 insect is without doubt a coccid feeder. Those trees are usually very large, the 

 branches upon old trees being a hundred or more feet in height and impossible to 

 examine. The leaves are always attacked by a Psyllid, the larva of which sit on 

 the under side of the leaf, and causing here a batch of rubber to form under which 

 they arehidden, only coming forth in pupaform, from which the mature insect escapes. 

 It may be these that the beetles attack. In Coccidae Aspidiotxs nerii Comst. is always 

 found in large numbers upon this as well as Erubifjenosa Desfontaines, around Syd- 

 ney, and as this scale is very common in Australia it may also occur upon these 

 trees in the "bush;" upon this the Trichorciis is more likely to feed. Its larva re- 

 sembles that of Platyomua lividigastcr>Mu\s., but has a single row of long, lateral 

 spines. 



Jnisorcus affinis Crotch. — A small, yellowish spiny larva not unlike that of the 

 earlier stages of Orcus ehalyleus Boisd. It feeds upon Chionaspis citri Comst., in the 

 Fiji Islands. They pupate usually on the leaves and the beetle lays its eggs in a 

 similar manner to Orcus. I had quite a lmmber of these insects in all stages when I 

 left Fiji and brought them on ice to Sydney and upon arrival there but few were 

 found dead; here they were fed and again placed on ice eleven days later, but not 

 one of them was living on arrival in San Francisco. 



Chryjytohtmus MontrouzieriMuls. — One of the most numerous and useful insects for 

 various coccids, but especially the various Mealy Bugs (Dactylopins). 



The beetle is very common in Queensland and also iu New South Wales, and may 

 be found upon almost any shrub or tree infested with these latter scales. At Brisbane 

 its larva' were seen by the thousands, both on my former and last trips, upon the 

 bunya-bunya trees, Araucaria BidweUi Hooker, and feeding hereupon Dactylopins 

 aurilanatu8 Mask., a coccid introduced into New Zealand, where it is very numerous 

 upon these trees and has as yet no enemies. The introduction of this beetle in that 

 as well as any country would be highly advisable and we could find no better 

 natural enemies for the green-house pests, where this beetle would prosper and keep 

 the plants free from the Mealy Bugs and Black Scale. Mr. Tryon, t in speaking of 

 the beneficial work of the coccinellidae, remarks of this very insect: "To mention 

 but a single instance, that of a small black beetle reddened at each extremity, 

 belonging to the group Scymnides and named Chryptolcemus. The larva of this is 

 a small active grub, measuring about one- quarter of an inch in length, covered 

 above with six rows of contiguous, elongated, white, mealy, secreted appendages. 

 (<>iiite recently the bun \ a-bunyas and other auriearatious trees growing about 

 Brisbane have been infested by. a coccus insect, an apparently undescribed species 



* Fnri her notes on Australian ( toleoptera with description of m-w genera and species. By the Rev. 

 T. Blackburn, J!. A. From the Traiis;u:tious of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1892, XI, p. 73. 

 t iuseets aud Fuuyus Pests, p. 10. 



