177 
tion was strengthened by the possibility that it had in some way 
been imported to our waters through the medium of the mail 
steamers passing through the Red Sea an route for Australia. 
However, this does not appear to have originated its occurrence 
from the fact that specimens exist in the Macleay Collection 
which must have been obtained prior to the advent of steamers 
via Suez Canal. Even were this not the case, our insect, to my 
mind, proves itself sufficiently distinct structurally to separate it 
from H. Hay anus. 
When our specimens were first obtained, during April of the 
present year, a large percentage were discovered in copula ; but 
observations in regard to the time the eggs were deposited or 
where laid have up to the present been unavoidably postponed. 
As the insect occurs in immense numbers ample opportunity is 
thus afforded for further investigation, meanwhile I am content 
to present a preliminary description of the larval and adult forms. 
In the act of copulation the female carries the male on her back, 
the latter grasping her round the body with the front legs above 
the region of the intermediate acetabula. 
NOTE ON THE NlDlFtCATlON OF EDOLIISOMA 
TENUIROSTRE. 
By A. J. North, F.L.S. 
Edoliisoma tenuirostre, Jardinc. 
Ceblepyris jardinii y Riippell. 
Campepliaga jardinii , G ould . 
During the latter end of September, 1882, Mr. C. C. L. Talbot 
observed a pair of these birds building their nest in the angle of 
a thin forked horizontal branch of an Ironbark (Eucalyptus sp.) y 
about forty feet from the ground, on Collaroy Station, Broad 
Sound, 556 miles N.W. of Brisbane. A week after, seeing the 
female sitting on the nest for some length of time, he climbed up 
to it and found it contained a perfectly fresh egg, which he took 
(not waiting for the full complement, which is probably two), as 
the tree was a difficult one to climb, at the same time securing 
the nest. It was a small and shallow structure composed of wiry 
grasses securely fastened together with cobwebs, and closely 
