226 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
VoL. 1. 
on Formicid(^ that had been met with on exotic plants on 
their arrival at Hamburgh, mentions no less than four 
species of the genus. 
In August, 1901, it was already well established in 
the Cairns District of N.E. Queensland. In fact, preying 
on the scarabseid larvae^ — ^known there as '‘Cane Grubs” 
In our breeding boxes, these destructive insects could not 
be maintained alive binder these circumstances without 
much difficulty. Albert Koebele, in conversation, noted, 
too, their occurrence there in immense numbers shortly 
afterwards, referring to them under the term Phe^idole 
omnivoru — that we. too, have sometimes bestowed upon 
them, thus confusing it with a smaller ant having this 
specific name, belonging to the genus Monomorinm. 
In a “ Catalogue of ihe Described Formicidae of 
Australia, ”conr,>iled by W. B. Gurney (11) inl905, we again 
find P. megacephala mentioned as an ant occurring at Cairns. 
During the last few years the same ant has become 
established in the Brisbane district ; and, for some time 
past, it has been exceedingly numerous in certain areas 
of South Brisbane, being met with in these, beneath every 
stone or piece of wood lying on the ground and pervading 
the soil generally in its extensive tunnelling, both colonies 
and individuals being excessively plentiful. It has also 
gained some notoriety as a domestic species, giving especial 
attention to the kitchen, pantry and larder. Being 
present in millions, where it occurs ; being carnivorous to 
a large extent ; and with predatory habits also ; its occur- 
rence has had an important bearing on the manifestation 
of other insect life. 
Scarcely any other insect can exist wEere it has 
become well established ; a remark that applies not only 
to the soil-frequenting kind, but to a less extent indeed 
to those that live on or in bushes and trees. Some may 
become prevalent for awhile, but these ants apparently 
soon get the upper hand of them. We have, in two instances, 
seen small wood-boring beetles torn to pieces by them 
whilst engaged in laying their eggs — the one in fig, the other 
in Eucalyptus wood. It would seem, indeed, that the dearth 
of insect life generally in Brisbane — the local entomologist’s 
complaint — -is largely to be attribiued to their voracious 
hordes. Most remarkable is the fact that other kinds of 
ants vanish before them. They will quite exterminate 
the large communities of the “ meat-ants ” 
and of Lusius, sp. as well as of Formicidae, belong- 
ing to the genera Campunotus, Polyrachis, Leptothorax, 
Cremastogaster, Monomorium, &c. Even the “ Green Head 
Ant,” Ectutommu metallicum, that stings with such virulence 
forms no exception in this respect. In fact, on a given area 
under observation, ants belonging to all these species have 
