HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
53 
Frogs are appreciated, especially in times of drought, when the water-holding 
kinds, particularly the larger Chiroleptes platycephalus^ affords a considerable amount 
of fluid. 
I was informed that crabs but not crayfish are eaten, and this accords with 
Mr. Schulze’s statement. Professor Spencer, however, tells me that he was 
informed that the latter were eaten, and suggests that the discrepant statements 
may arise from a want of discrimination between the bearings of the English 
names. He further adds that, of the two, the crayfish is much the better eating; 
the crabs being pi’actically worthless as food. 
Lerp Alanna. —At various localities, particularly in the bed of the Todd River 
near Alice Springs, and in that of the Hugh near its junction with the 
Finke, the leaves of Eucalyptus rostrata bore the small white conical or tent¬ 
like coverings of the larva; of a species of homopterous insect belonging to 
the Psyllidie. Occasionally the same structures were seen on the leaves of E. 
microtheca. According to Dr. Thomas Dobson* the insect, of the larvte of which 
the “ lerp ” examined by him was the product, is Psylla eucalypti., but I am not 
aware whether the lerp of other eucalypts than those mentioned by him is referable 
to the same species or not. These coverings are the result of a glutinous secre¬ 
tion from the bodies of the larvte, which, in parts, takes the form of a feltwork of 
tubular hairs. Though small, not usually exceeding a sixth of an inch in diameter, 
they sometimes occur upon the leaves in great numbers, and can then be collected 
in quantities by the natives. In the locality mentioned the destructive method of 
obtaining them was by cutting down the entire trees. In taste, the substance is 
distinctly saccharine and, on analysis, the Lerp Manna of E. dumosaj was found to 
contain both a starch-like substance (Lerp-amylum) and a sugar. 
Under the name of Witcheties—a term used by the whites as well as under¬ 
stood by the natives throughout the central districts, though it does not appear to 
be a word belonging to the language of either of the tribes—are included certain 
larva;, in respect to the mature forms of which there is some uncertainty. One 
very large white kind, known at Alice Springs as “ Udnirringita,” believed to be 
the larva of a large longicorn beetle, reaches a length of four or five inches, 
and the thickness of a finger, and is much appreciated. The promotion of the 
supply of this grub forms the motive of one of the most important food ceremonies 
of the Arunta natives, which is fully described in Mr. Gillen’s paper. They are 
* R. Soc. Tasmania, vol. i., 1851, p. 235. 
t Fliickiger, Watts Diet, of Chem., 1875, 2nd Suppt. 
