THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 57 
* 
Australian species. This common subject for investigation 
offers itself to country and city members alike and both junior 
and adult members are asked to direct special attention to 
this field-work. Specimens of, and notes on, the wattles found 
in their particular districts and their geological distribution 
are of interest. Of the Fungi of wattles mention may be made 
of the well-known galls or swellings formed on stems, leaves 
and pods of wattles due to the presence of rust fungi. McAlpine 
mentions 32 species of wattles affected by these rust fungi of 
which he records seven species of the genus Unromycladium 
and three species of the genus Uromyces. 
These rust fungi are not to be confused with wattle galls 
, , formed by insects such as flies and thrips, or the better known 
j galls of Eucalyptus trees. The rust galls on the 
wattles, are, however, found to be infested by insects, moths, 
beetles, etc., which feed in these galls and which require iden 
tifying, as little is known of them. 
With regard to the insects of wattles a great amount of 
collecting and observation is necessary; comparatively few 
have been identified as yet, and the life histories of several 
only are known. ‘There is, therefore, an almost untouched 
field in this direction for members to work in, vz, the life 
stages and habits of the wattle insects and also of the mites. 
Nothing hardly can be considered too insignificant to record 
on the manner of egg-laying, and metamorphoses and habits 
of these forms. The life histories of such very common forms 
as the Diamond Weevil (Chrysolophus spectabilis), the red- 
backed weevil (Rhinotia hoemoptera), the various common 
weevils of the genus Belus, and of common Loagicorn and 
Buprestid beetle borers, and flies and bugs of wattles ara not 
yet recorded at all, or only indicated by a few observations. 
Therefore, let no one on the score of want of knowledge 
consider he or she cannot record something of' interest; and 
at, the least the work will add to one’s personal knowledge. 
All that is required is accuracy of observation and, as far as 
possible, specimens of the plants, insects, or fungi concerned, 
for identification. 
Specimens and notes should be sent to the secretary and 
they will be exhibited or read at the meetings, the specimens 
identified and the notes arranged and condensed by the pub- 
lication committee for publication in the issues of our journal 
with due acknowledgment of those contributing information. 
I give herewith a list of insects recorded on Wattles, which 
though not complete indicates some of the commoner forms 
and a further list, supplementing this, will be published next 
issue. Among papers recording insects on wattles, Mr. W. W. 
Froggatt has published an excellent one on ‘‘Wattle Insects,” 
with illustrations, in the ‘“‘Agricultural Gazette,’ for 1902, 
to which students are specially referred. Mr. Best hag record- 
ed some in the ‘Victorian Naturalist’? and A. M. Lea in the 
. 
