642 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Zealand, and makes a perforation of tlie size and shape of a 
tenpenny nail. Three varieties of the Elater are common, 
they appear to have increased since the colonization of the 
islands; at Auckland it is found in all the houses, and is 
likely to become a nuisance, one kind is long and narrow, 
another large, with a brown down on its elytra, the third 
small, and all are black, this insect is remarkable for its 
great power of spring, when laid on its back it feigns death, 
and then suddenly jumps up and escapes ; this power is 
seated between the thorax and the elytra. 
There are many kinds of the curculio, which is a beautiful 
and interesting family, although greatly varied in form, still 
preserving a marked affinity to one another in the elongation 
of the thorax, one of which has it of the same length as the 
entire body ; another is of a beautiful glossy black, with 
spines or protuberances on its back. There is also a cream 
colored one, very sluggish in its movements. 
A singular black beetle, covered with a rusty- colored down, 
having the appearance of the hinder part being cut off, is 
found on charred timber. 
The ear-wig Forficula, is a large insect, fully an inch-and 
a-half long, it is fortunately seldom met with, and appears to 
be the only one belonging to New Zealand. 
Orthoptera, mata. The Blatta, or cock roach is not 
above half the size of the B. Americana, an introduced pest, 
its body is oval, brown and striped with bands of a dirty 
yellow. It appears to be identical with that of Australia. 
The locust, grasshopper, mawitivnti, is a numerous family, 
some attain a considerable size, a black one is found in the 
interior ; since the introduction of poultry, and especially 
the turkey, their increase has been checked, and they are 
less destructive than formerly. 
The Pahau roa-roa , a large flying locust, is periodically 
troublesome, at other times scarcely seen. 
The Piharengcb, pirenga, field cricket ; its chirrup resembles 
the singing of a bird, and in the south, where it is far from 
being common, the children keep it in bottles for the sake of 
its song ; in the north it is becoming so numerous as likely 
to prove a pest. 
