April, 1926 
The Queensland Naturalist. 77 
vaiTi foi* t]i(‘ (leprerlntor. Tlieii. al)out tlie ])e"inningf of 
this luontli (Pehfuary) T liappeiiod on ono, or rather it 
liapixoied on me — (nio’ht, hed, reading*, bad liabit, 
chronic) on the back of my hand and he is slirined in 
one of tlie tubes T send. Tjike the monks avIio Mieedless 
of graiiniiar, they all called Hiatus him'! 1 kncAV T had 
got him at last. He was rare, and T hunted him diligent- 
ly fstill do. Avitli other intent) but in a fortnight did not 
get more than a dozen, and I wanted a respectable cl*o\^'d 
to send to Bi'ishane for baptism. Tiien on February 7th 
came tlie rain tO.So liere) the real overtui'c of the present 
Gehenna season and they came out at sunset in battalions, 
and Avere speedily on those terms of tender intimacy, 
AA'liich are said to token identity of snecies. They are 
noAV slackening off f27th February, gone). 
They don't attack tlie hard outside of the bambu, but 
sini]dy bon* through it an<l feed upon the soft iinier tissue. 
At first T didn't mind them more thaii tame rabbits on 
lettuce diet. bu1 T soon found them deA'Onring my books; 
they were fellou* bibliophiles, and short-commons, even 
famine, loomed aliead ol* nu*.. You see 1 take my grub 
periodically, syioradically, after Hie manner of tlie new- 
banded (piantum, wliereas they as grnhs grub day and 
night without eeasing; so T have been fain to restrain 
tlieir ardoui* with turns, Avhich is to them as holy-Avattu* to 
tlieii* blood brother Aidd Glootie. Here- again, they 
esehoAA' the bark and elieAv the leaves, preferring the 
delectalde . SjAace between binding and end-])aper Avhere 
paste lies as rich provender. This leads me to suspect 
them as of Scottish oi*igin, for is it not they Avhom Burns 
admonishes: 
“Through and through the inspired leaves, 
Ye maggots, make your windings: 
But oh! respect his lordship’s taste. 
And spare his golden bindings.*’ 
XoAV, after the Flower Exhibition of the Field 
Naturalists last antiimn Miss Hilda Geissniann kindly 
sent me the fine section of a cycad trunk she had shoAvn 
there. There were certainly no borers of any sort in it 
then, and it was laid on a table on a verandah on the 
opposite side of the Iionse from AA^here my cone lay. Prom 
the cone F liad selected a feAV of the, scarlet-rine seeds 
for examination, and they lay within a couple of feet of 
the trunk section. Montlis passed and notliing happened. 
But after I noticed the dust under the chair in my rwAm 
