W!fv,v^!(nii'ijii,iiiii\p* i|i>;,. itfvi iili iitilllti^UuillltuillilliliMlhllti>!»;iW.'fi-V. cr\ l>.:*^*JM n/f/ ">'' Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from NCSU Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/forestinsectsofaOOfrog Frontispiece . 1. Cliaraijd splendeas (malp). la. ,, ,, (female). 2. Charaga exiinwt (male). •2a. ,, „ (female). Moths. 3. ChanKja liijirimra (male) 3a. ,, „ , dark variet.y (female). 3b „ ,, , i;reen variety (female . 4. Cxdama rubiijiiKisa (male) Forest Insects OF Australia. WALTER W. FROGGATT, F.L.S., Government Entomologist, New South Wales. Member of the Linnean Society of London, The Association of Economic Entomologists of U. S. America, Correspond- ing Member Entomologiska Foreningen of Stockholm, Vice-President of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Vice-President of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Vice-President of the Wild Life Preservation Society, Vice-President of the Gould League of Bird Lovers, Vice-President of the Field Naturalists' Society, ' President Wattle Day League. Illustrated with two coloured plates, 44 full plates, and 33 text blocks. PRICE 7s. 6d. Published under the direction of the Forestry Commissioners of New South Wales. Wholly set up and printed ni Australia by Alfred James Kent, Government Printer, Phillip Street, Sydney, N.S.W.— 1923. ^^ .t PREFACE. As a worker in the field of Entomology, Mr. Walter W. P^-oggatt needs no introduction, and his compilation of this little volume on the " Forest Insects of Australia " is not the least valuable of his contributions to Science during the past thirty years. In this work will be found a fund of information regarding white ants, timber borers, and foi'est in.sect pests, which is of both practical and scientific value, and embodjung, as it does, the results of many years' careful investigation, it may be accepted as a text and reference book of value by those interested in Forestry, Architecture, or industries in which wood as a material is employed. The extent of injury done to timber by insect pests is hardly realised, and if the economic loss could be estimated, it would arouse the public mind from its apathy in regard to both the introduction of borer and other pests from abroad, and to the urgent need for protective and remedial measures. The mattei- is one which demands the serious attention of our legislators, and, in writing this introduction, it is in the hope that this publicaticm may serve to throw light upon it, and to materially assist in its better con.sideration. W. E. WEARNE, Alinistei- for Forests. a09'5J ^ Oye CONTENTS. ixTRdnUCTION Chapter — I. Plant Galls. The Eeouomic Value of Birds in Forests. Insects generally in their relation to forest trees II. Termitid:e— »Vhite Ants. Their Life Histor3\ Preventatives and methods of dealing with White Ants. White Ants attacking Australian Railway Sleepers in India. Notes from " Indian Forester " III. Wood-boring beetles that damage timber trees, chiefly hardwood. The Powder-post Beetle. Parasite of the Powder-post Beetle. The Shot-hole Borer. The Anobium or furniture beetle. Beetle borers in pine floors. The introduction of foreign species of borers with imported timber IV. Insects of the Eucalyptus. Tiie yellow longicoras. Beetle parasites, hynienopterous parasites Wood moths. Foliage moths. Scale insects ... V. Insects attacking various species of Eucalj'ptus, some more than one species ... VI. Stick Insects, moths, sawflies, and homopterous insects on Eucalyptus VII. Insects of tli£ Sugar Gum ^'III. Insects of the Kurrajongs IX. In.sect'5 of the Rumlile Tree or Wild Pomegranite (Cttp/xirJx vit/chflli) ... X. Insects of the Wild Lime (.4//«»^■«( ry/rt//(77) ... XL Insects of the Wattles PAGE. 1 XII. Longicorn beetles of tlie Wattles. XIII. Lepidoptera of the Wattles... XIV. Other in.sects of the Wattle XV. Insects of the Red Cedar... XVI. Insects of the Fig Trees ... XVII. Insects of Casuarinas XVIII. Insects of the Banksias ... XIX, Insects of the Pinu-^ in-'^itjiiiA XX. Insects of the Cypress Pines XXI. Insects of the Kauri Pines Other Wattle beetles 14 24 35 57 76 SI 89 96 104 111 120 U2 l8-> 141 148 150 I.j-i 159 164 COLOURED PLATES. Coloured Plate (1)— Wood Moths 1. Charaf/a fiphnden>< (iiicile) la. ,, ,, (female) 2. ClKd'aija cximits (male) ■2a. ,, ,, (female) 3. Chfirai/rt h'/ort pi(?if^«/( /a w/rT.r r((/)r?c (7J.S and /. P/iorarx Ihi' ... 41 ]'2. (.iia,nt Wood '^]ijih {Zfuzerii muc/cnj/i, ^cijit). Male ... ... ... ... 44 13. ,1 ,, ,, ,, Female ... ... ... ... 45 14. Leaf-rolling Moths ' 49 15. Eight Eucalyptus Longicorn Beetles ... ... ... ... ... ... 53 16. Gregarious Phasma or " Ringbarker " (Pof/oc'««^A?/,s Wilklnaoni, Macl.) ... 58 17. Bent-wing Wood Moth (/>t") ... ... ... ... ... ... 67 1\. The steel-blue Saw Fly (A/v/f« (^Zor.'w tvVto/bj-mj's, Froggatt) 75 •23. White-ribbed Case Moth ( rA^m/o/j^ery.r /t'rncA /), AVuston .. 77 •24. Stem of CVip;7«^(.s nu7fA(r//« showing moth damage ... ... ... ... 90 25. Bumble Tree Moth (.S7///Vo^('^>/.y fff/cz/o/-, Turner) ... ... ... ... 91 •26. Common White Butterfly (/jWcmoj-s /ai'«, Sparrman) 93 27. Painted Capparis Bug (5/er!0-//yH??t /ycr.so«i;c<«»() ... ... ... ... ... 95 "28. Native Lime Stem, damaged by longicorn ((.'*Vr«y//('/.'/(t Hi/.rt'i) 100 •29. Life history, Native Lime Borer (C'iVW/>/i(f;/'? m«.Tto) 101 30. ,, Green-spined Oninge Bug {Biproru/us hilin.r) ... ... ■ ... U>3 31. Wattle Beetles ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 105 •>2. „ „ 113 33. Wattle Butterflies and Scale Insects ... ... ... ... ... ... 121 34. Wattle Krw(.v ^fTc^/'^/^.y, Olilt) 136 38. Buff-coloured Fig Longioorn (J/o«o/(a»4mM.s./''.-i)!«/r//o>-, Mont rouz) 143 39. Fig-branch Borer (/f(//esf//H.«i/r-), Lea) ... 14,i 40. Fig- leaf Psyl (i)///co7«y/r( /ci, Tryon) 147 41. Banksia Longicorn (P'O-o/V/Ve-s r/^^sAj-rj^N, Erich) .. 151 42. Pine-tree Weevil (J?.'r;/.s, Paso. ) ... ... ... ... 153 43. Painted Acacia Moth (7'eiacm«r/oic?e.'<) ... 156 44. Common Pine Aphis (C//er7ne.sy>mi, Koch) J58 Text Blocks - Forest Insects of Australia. PAGE. 1. Mound nest of the Common White Ant [Cnplolcrmfs /ar/i'ii.-i, Froggatt) ... 14 2. ,, witli side cut down, sliowing the structure ... ... ... 14 3 The Powder-post Beetle {Lycliix linnimwi Steph.), and damaged wood ... 25 4. Braconid parasite ot Powder-])ost Beetle ... ... ... ... ... ... -6 5. White Egg Scale {Eriococcus conacew^), immature female scales ... ... 51 6. ,, ,, ,, ,, full grown ,, 51 7. Lewin's Processional Caterpillar Moth (0'//"uv/ /fj/v'/Kf) ... ... ... 62 8. The Ironbark Saw-fly damaging foliage ... ... ... ... 71 9. LarviB of the Ironbark Saw-flies massed at base of trunk ... ... ... 72 10. The Ironbark Saw-fly (P/er//r/o/)/)orH-s 'r»f^/!.s) ... 73 11 Motl\ed Cup ^loth {Dornfiferandiiemiix, Lewin) .. 79 12. Mimic Bark Weevil {^4 a;io/fK«* m.y('(/Mi.'>, Pasc.) ... ... ... ... ... 81 13. Kurrajong Seed Weevil (T'e/ji^^e/v'd stoTHZ/tc, Lea ... ... ... ... Hi 14. ,, Leaf-roller Moth (iVotort'/ia c?2/.!s/.v./e.'*;//^r/, Fabr.) ... 28. Fig-leaf Beetle {OaHe ncn mmipiiUafn, C'lark). Larva, pupa and beetle 29. The She-oak Gall Coccid {SjjJKcrococcns lenii, Fuller) ... . . 30. Lac Scale on Cypress Pine [Tnrlmrdin (hronlht Mask.) 31. Yellow-banded ^lealy Bug (Ddcfi/Zo/iiii'^ . . Naturally, the distinctive species are responsible for the range and distri- bution of the insects peculiar to each wattle; and particularly for those insects that are known as " borers," and which attack the stems, branches, and roots. Yet when we study the leaf or flower-haunting insects we find many of them that range over tlie greater part of Australia. In the summer mouths, when the western wattles are in bloom, the entomologist with a sweeping net can obtain a rich harvest of wasps, bees, flies, leaf hoppers, plant bugs, and small beetles attracted to the pollen. FOREST INSECTS OF AU ST BALI A. CHAPTER I. PLANT GALLS. A plant gall has been briefly described as the morbid enlargement of the affected part of a plant by parasitic agency, which may be insect or fungus. Besides the many curious galls formed by insects, some of our trees, such as the black wattle {Acacia decurrens) are often badly infested with rust galls which are of fungus origin. The most characteristic is JJromycladium tepperianum, which, as they increase in size, cover the branchlets with, woody excrescences, rusty red in colour and variable in form; these in turn become the home of insects that are living upon this aborted tissue, or ehe are parasites upon the plant-eating larvae. All kinds of insects are bred out of these mature rust galls; but it must be remembered that they are only inqualines or visitors and did not produce the galls in the first instance. The kurrajong is also infested with large fleshy galls upon its branchlets; these galls are irregularly rounded, and range from the size of a walnut to one's closed fist. They have been con- sidered rust galls, though my botanical friends have been unable to find any traces of rust spores upon them. These galls are considered later on when dealing with the insect pests of the kuiTajong, for they are the home of beetle and hymenopterous larvae. A great deal has been written about the plant galls of Europe; Connold has written a fine work, " British Vegetable Galls, 1901," illustrated with lumdreds of photographs of the species described ; a list of fifty-four specie* is given of those peculiar to the oaks {Quercxis). As a number of insects belonging to different orders produce galls, and as^ gall insects are very numerous in Avistralia, I propose to deal with them as a whole, and then simply refer to each species when describing their habitn and food plants. Insect galls are formed of aborted plant tissue produced upon the stems, branchlets, leaves, or flowers by the action of different insects. The local injury is caused by the ovipositor of an insect, or the secretion injected when the ovipositor is inserted, or by the presence of the egg, and later by the larvae sucking or gnawing the surrounding tissue. A typical gall is an oval or rounded mass of more or less soft plant tissue siuTOunding a central cell or cells containing the insect larva. When fully fed the larva pupates, later on the insect emerges from the pupal skin, and cuts its way out through the side of the gall. When galls are formed upon buds or embryo seed pods they are frequently aborted into a mass or bundle of irr^ular tubes; a typical example are those formed by the gall gnat (Cecidomyia acacice-longifoUo') when it punctures the flowers of the loug- leaved acacia. Another gall gnat causes the leaf buds of a coastal Melaleuca to form oval brown galls composed of many leaf-like bracts. In another JDipterous family (Trypetin.e), containing a number ot small lichly-eoloured llies, allied to the destructive fruit-flies, we find them usually forming typical rounded galls on the branchlets. The greater number of the micro- hymenoptera are parasites, and though these are often bred out of excres- cences, they are usually parasites devouring the original gall-makers. Still, however, there are quite a number of such phytophagus species that are true gall-makers. !Most of these galls are oval or rounded; but others are FOREST IXSECTS oF A i' ST U ALIA. Insect Galls. 1. Male and Female Galls of Biwhu-scdia itHeuta, Schraaer. •I. female Galls of OpinthoscelU mhrotumla, Schrader. ■i. Galls of Cecidomyia ficdcim-loiix/ifulice. Skuse. FOREST INSECTS OF AUSTRALIA. slender and hprn-shaiKfl. In one remarkable group {Tricliilogeeies : a rounded woolly gall on llie branches of the belar (Casuarina) ; this is intersected beneath the covering loark with transverse galleries in which hirge communities of thrips wore living until by the same process the bark (■racked and liberated them. We have no gall-making aphids in Australia like those so common on the forest trees of the United States ; yet a number of our lerp insects (family PsYLLiDiE) produce somewhat similar leaf galls. Some are thin and hollow with the opening on the underside o| the gum leaf ('' bubble galls '') ; others , are stout and almost solid, and in the first instance were commenced by the larva puncturing the under pirface of the leaf, but they have to mature, splits and open on ik^ apical surface before the perfect insect can escapa from her cell. ^1. -^i ■ .>. ^.,. " -..*!' Th% most TemSTk^le-lgalls in the Avorld,- lidwever, and those with the most epmplieated sti*«cture, are ^"oduced by oui'' gall-making Coccida^. In the most typical geniis {Afiomovpha), the tiny yellow larva?, hatched in the gall chamber, emerge through the apical opening on the tip of the female gall. Hundreds of these tiny creatures, encircled by fine cilia, with mouth, legs, antenna?, and eyes, scatter over the foliage of the food plant. Some settle down on the foliage, others on the twigs, and each sex produces a distinct form of gall. The male galls are generally much more numerous on the foliage, the female gaUs upon the twigs. Here they all settle down and in some mysterious manner cause the plant tissue to swell up round them. The female larva changes into an elongate turbinate yellow grub-like creature without any apparent mouth, with aborted antennae and legs, and with the tip of the abdomen produced into two horny tails; the body seg- ments are clothed with rows of fine spines, hairs, and floury secretion. The galls become hai-d, oval, ribbed, or rounded boxes, with a central cavity fitting round the enclosed coccid, who is standing on her head with the hornj- tails towards the tiny apical opening in the gall. A number of these galls are furnished with civrled horns or bracts at the apical margins characteristic of the species. Apiomorpha duplex, with its pair of long leaf-like appendages, is the giant among them, sometimes measuring over a foot in length. The male larva, resting o)i the leaf, produces a short cylindrical hollow gall standing erect upon the leaf with the apex often dilated. Enclosed in this woody tube the tiny red elongated male coccid, also standing on his H^nd, develops and emerges later a perfect two-winged active coccid. FOREST L\.stract the wood-boring grub or larva. lu Central Europe alone there are eight species of woodpe<_'kers, and there are many more species in Xorth American forests. The question whether woodpeckers are protective or injurious to forest plantations is, however, a vexed tjuestion among European forest experts; and some writers claim that these birds, by drilling holes into sound trees, eating forest seeds, and girdling healthy trees, do more damage than thej do good in keeping down destructive insects. The latest investigations in Europe and in North America tend to prove, however, that the police work in the forest carried out by the woodpeckers as a whole outbalances the damage sustained by the tree. In Australia we have no birds allied to the woodpeckers that luuit and destroy the wood-boring larva^ of moths and beetles. The only birds that can peck out the wood grubs are the bla<^ co(,-katoos (Calyptorhijnchiis FOREST INSECTS OF AUSTRALIA. funereus) . These cockatoos frequent the forest lauds, aud ai-e provided ^vith a very powerful beak, capable of tearing off quite large limbs of the gum- trees when searching for wood-grubs. In Britain the wood-pigeons are not only considered serious pests by the farmers because of the enormous quantities of peas and other field crops they eat, but also because in the forest, when numerous, they destroy a great number of valuable seeds of forest trees. I have frequently noticed the bronzewing pigeons congregating in the wattle scrub at seeding-time to feed upon the falling seeds, in spite of their hard integument. There are a number of ground-hunting birds in the scrubs and cedar brushes that feed upon insects and land snails, which otherwise might become a serious menace to the foliage and stems of the forest trees. Several species of lerp insects (Psyllidce) cover the leaves of the gum- trees so thickly with their manna-like tests that they almost defoliate tho trees. Several species of the little brush-tongued parrakeets, and some of the honey-eaters, feed upon these sugary lerp scales ; and as these pan'ots usually congregate in large flocks they must play an important part in cleaning up the sugar lerps. Though birds are frequently credited witn spreading scale insects in orchard and forest, by frequenting scale-infested trees and thence flying on clean trees with the larval scales upon their legs, yet some are well-known scale-eaters. Mr. E. A. Kitson published a note in the Victorian Naturalist (vol. xn', p. 106, 1897) in which he records that the rosella parrots {Pl^atyceraU'S exivius) were noticed that season in some of the Melbourne parks, and that they were eating out the glassy oak scale (Asterolecanium quercicola) which infests the tips of the branchlets of the oak trees. It is very probable that parrots and other birds play an important part in the reduction of mealy bugs and other scale insects upon forest trees over the whole of our Tast continent. Insects generally in their relation to forest trees. Insects damage trees in many diflerent ways. Sometimes they eat thy foliage; in other cases they suck up the sap from the leaves, and cause them to be discoloured, wither, and fall oft'. Others again web leaves together with silken strands aud cause them to decay. All foliage is destroyed cliicriy liy the caterpillars of moths and butterflies, or else by foliage-eating beetles, cliiefly those belonging to the Lamellicornt. and Chrysomalids. In the CiiRYSOMALin.* both the larvaj and the beetles feed upon the foliage. The legless larv* of some of the snout beetles or weevils (CuiurLixiD^) destroy foliage, and quite a number of the adu-.t beetles attack the opening leaf-buds. These under normal conditions are forest insects, aud should be watched in forest plantations. A number under altered conditions have found their way out of the bush into the orchards, and have developed into very serious pests. In the family Tkxtiiukdimd.e, the sawflies have typical phytophagus larva", which often appear in |>reat ntimbers; they mass together on the foliage, and when abundant defoliate the trees. FOREST ly SECTS OF AUSTRALIA. At Roma, Queensland, one species of the genus PtcrogoiJherus appears sometimes in countless millions, stripping off every leaf on the ironbark gums; and when full-fed they congregate at the base of the tree. The graziiig cattle have learnt to eat these sawfly grubs, and numbers die from this abnormal appetite. All the members of the family Piias:mid.e, containing the leaf and stick insects, are foliage-eating insects all through their lives; but most of the species are solitary in their habits and are conlparatively rare insects. One gregarious species (Podacanthus wilhinsoni) frequently appears in immense armies in the eucalyptus forests east of Walcha and Glen Innes, and, marching along a broad track, they take every leaf off all the gum-trees in their track. The habit of webbing the foliage together with loose silken strands or closely-woven silken bags is confined to several groups of the bag-shelter and leaf-rolling moths. The destruction of all the leaves by the infestation of sucking insects is generally caused by members of the orders Thysanopterv (thrips) or Hemiptera (plant bugs). The larvae and adult fr(fe-living thrips damage the epidermis of the leaf. All the members of the order Hemiptera are provided with a sucking, tubular mouth known as the rostrum. They are popularly known as plant bugs, scale insects, froghoppers, aphids, lerp insects, and snowflies. Among the most serious of all these enemies to vegetation are the scale insects (CocciD.^). They suck up the sap of leaves, twigs, stems, and even the fruits* and they destroy much valuable timber by stunting the growth, even if they do not actually kill the tree. Many wattle trees are killed by dif- ferent species of the armoured scales. We have few, if any, indigenous aphids on our forest trees. One dark- winged, hairy species recently appeared in the cypress pine forests in the Dubbo district. A few introduced species, have turned their attention to our pine plantations. The place of aphids is taken by the typical lerp insects. These tiny homopterous insects belonging to the Psyllid^ are well- defined in Australia under the popular name of '' lerp insects," in reference to the remarkable little structures that the larva? of many species produce from the svirplus sap they suck up, discharge from the anal segment, and spin into protective shields with their hind legs. Moving about under the lerp scale, they feed upon the sap until full-grown, when they usually crawl from under the shelter and rest on the surface of the leaf, Avhile the pupal skin splits down the back, atid the perfect, minute, winged, eicada-like insect emerges. When these insects are numerous, large areas of foiest, particularly eucalypts, are so badly infested that all the foliage becomes discolourefl through the sap being sucked up ; the leaves dry up and fall, and thousands of trees become defoliated, and look in a very unhealthy condition, or as if they had been lingbarked. If suitable climatic conditions carry on the successive generations of lerp insects through several years, this constant infe>tatiou causes the tops of the gum-tr^es to die back, and the forest rangers state that the timber becoines of an inferior quality to that of uninfested trees. Generally, however, these insects come and go ; and I doubt if an occasional infestation does much harm to the trees, as under normal conditions they shed the damaged leaves, and a fresh growth of foliage appears without the growth of the timber being affected. 10 FOREST IXSECT:< UF ALSTli.MAA^ Unlike the scale insects, both nuilc nnd female lerp insects in the adult estate have two pair of well-developed wiixgs, and are active little creatures that can fly well; and, being' provided with thickened processes npon the thighs of the hind legs, they can spring- a considerable distance. The lerp insects are well represented in Australia, and besides those feeding npon the different species of wattles and gum-trees, many of our native shrubs are infested with their own distinctive species. Some of these form leaf galls; others cover themselves with woolly filaments, shelter under viscid Slip, or are naked and unprotected. Suited to Australian conditions, they have adapted themselves to our distinctive flora, and appear to take the place of the Aphida? that are so common and destructive in other parts of the world, but are very poorly represented by indigenous species on our flora. The timber-boring insects of the forest which attack healthy trees are cliiefly confined to the order Lkpidoptera, moth and butterfly caterpillars, and the grubs of beetles Colkoptera. They may lay their eggs upon the surface of the bark ; l>ut in the case of beetles that puncture the bark the resultant larvie bore into through the bark, and frequently they feed in the earlier stages between the bark and sap-wood before they bore into the harder wood and pupate. Sometimes the larva? feed down the centre of the smaller branches for a considerable distance. Others encircle the wood just beneath the bark and cause the branchlet to snap off; the larvse feed and pupate on the fallen portion. In several groups of the longicorn beetles, the female, when depositing her e^g, girdles, or ringbarks, the infested stem, and provides the larva with suitable withering food. The larva> of all longicorn bettles are timber-feeders; and. though many undergo their metamorphoses within a year, others may take several years before com- pleting their life-cycle. The longicorns, unlike most of the other beetles, lay their eggs upon vigorous healthy trees as well as those that are sick or injured, and thus they cause a yreat deal of injury to valuable timber trees. The weevils or snout beetles (Curculonida') deposit their eggs in a similar manner to the longicorn beetles; but they usually cut into the bark and push the egg into the cavity. They are often gregarious, and a number of eggs may be deposited in one spot. The legless larvie usually pack the chewed wood behind them as they tunnel; and they frequently return down this bore when they are perfect beetles, eating their way out through the original opening. Other weevils lay their eggs in dead trees, and are often much more prolific than the previous group of beetles. There are a number of other wood-boring beetles, such as the ambrosia beetles, shot-hole borers, auger beetles, and pow^der-post beetles, that confine their attention to dead or drying timber; but they are dealt with in a separate section. The timber or wood boring moths are well represented in Australian forests, and many of the smaller forest and scrub trees are killed by their larvae. The moths deposit their eggs upon perfectly sound, healthy trees. Some, like the Cryptophagincv , of which the cherry-tree borer is an example, simply make a hole in the stem and a short, vertical burrow below, webbing the bark in front, and coming out at night to "feed. Thus they gradually eat off all the bark surrounding the bore before they pupate, and thus kill large branches. Others, like the wattle-borers, feed down the centre of the stems, and are true timber feeders, ready when full-fed to pupate at the end Lerp Scales of Australian Psyllidae— Lerp Insects. 1. CanUa-ipis biuiinens (Froggatt). ■2. ,, iptrix (Froggatt). 3. „ s-jjiiii/i'i-ux, n.sp. 4. Lasi< hninnevx). AIsci s(imt' (laniasj^ed woorhvork. the iisher Library at the Sydney University soon after it was finished, and :some fell on the varnished reading-desks below and bored their way into them.* Iii this instance the powder-post beetles died out without doing any serious damage. In a large bonded store in Sydney, where the large beams under the floor were rounded joists, the outer sapwood began to fall away in flakes, and tlie owners found the beetles on the floors. When, at our suggestion, the sapwood was adzed away, and the rest treated with crude oil. the damage did not extend into the remaining timber. Range and Description of the Beetle. Among the members of the genus Lijcfm that have been recorded as powder-post beetles, Li/ctus unipunctatus is stated to be the most common and destructive species in the Ignited States. Lyctus strintiis, another Xorth American beetle, did considerable damage to the red oak floors of Michigan College, while Lyctus opaculu.s bores into the stems and canes of the grape vines in some parts of the United States. *NoTE. — These were probably not powder-post beetles, but furnituie beetles, anolniim jmnrtntiim. 26 FOREST IX SECTS OF AUSTRALIA. Though our powder-post beetle {Lyctus hrunneus) was described at a very early date from specimens in England, and again under the synonyms of L. cohydioides Dejeen, and L. ghicyn-hizw Cheverolet, from specimens in. France, and from Woodlark Island by Montrozier under the name of Lyctu& rugulosiis, it was not until 1876 that it was recorded and identified from Australia. In a note in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine of that year, J. W. Douglas contributed a note as follows : " In the year 1862, on a small log of wood Avith the bark on, imported into the London Docks from Swan iiiver as a sample, I found five beetles of a species which has recently been identified as Lyctnsl^runneu^ hj Dr. Sharp, who informs me that he has specimens of it from New Zealand, Britain, and France, and it is recorded from Woodlark Island." Braconid parasite of the Powder-post Beetle. This beetle probably has a very wide range over the East, and has been casually introduced in most of these outside countries in timber or furniture. It may not even be a native of Australia, though it is well established here at the present time. It may be described as follows : — General colour reddish-brown, sometimes dark brown ; general form elongate, with the divisions between the head, thorax, and body well defined. Head not as broad as the thorax ; jaws stout, turned down ; eyes large, rounded, and projecting fiom the sides of the head : antanme with the terminal joints forming a clnb. The thorax is rather flattened on the dorsal surfa(!e, a little more long than broad, rounded on both the hind ajid front margins, and with sides straight, but sloping slightly to the hind margin, the whole surface being finely granulated. The wing covers are long and narrow, their front inargin straight with tips rounded, and the surface finely granulated with fine parallel' stripe. The hind pair of wings is well developed, for this little beetle can fly well. The- legs are long, with slender tiblse and long tarsi. Length, ^ of an inch. FOREST INSECTS OF AUSTRALIA. 27 A Parasite on the Powder post Beetle. 'J'here has been no record, as far as the writer knows, of a parasite attacking -or checking the increase of this very serious wood-destroying beetle; but early in 1919 a badly-infested board of "blue fig" was sent to this office from southern Queenslaiid. It was full of tin^ pin-holes from which powdered ■wood dust was falling. The board remained under observation for several months, when several adult beetles emerged, which proved to be the well- known Lycius hrunneus. The beetles first appeared on the surface of the board in May, and it was toward the end of the. month, while collecting specimens of them, that their hymenopterous parasite was first noticed ooming out of the holes in the board. This Braconid wasp measures 4 mm. in length. The head is reddish- brown, and the antenna? (except the basal joints, which are reddish-brown), eyes, and area round the ocelli black. The dorsal surface of the thorax, the abdomen, and ovipositor arc black, with a slight reddish-brown mottle on the thorax in some specimens, and the under surface lighter coloured. The legs are a yellowish-brown, wings hyaline, and the costal nervure and stigma black, with inner veins of a lighter colour. Suggestions and Remedies. The general use of unseasoned timber and sap-wood in buildings in >^ydney and suburbs during this last few years has led to the spread and increase of this serious timber pest; and for this reason during the next few years thousands of feet of hardwood floor joists and battens will have to be removed. The sapwood of spotted gum and tallow wood seem to be among the worst species affected; but this may be because so mvieh of' these timbers are milled. This species at the present time infests the sapwood of most of our hardwoods, belonging to the Genus Eucalyptus. The only royal way is for all people having contracts with architects and builders to stipulate that all wood used is free from sapwood. When infested sapwood is found in floors, battens, or in joists, it should be treated with kerosene or creosote mixture, if it cannot be cut away. When the floors are damaged, the sapwood should be followed along and kerosene poiTred' over the infested area and brushed in. When in the roof battens -or upright timher kerosene should be brushed in with a stiff sash brush. The more oil that can be made to j)enetrate the better the deadly action on the larvse and beetles in the wood. The Shot-hole Borer [I'latyjvis omnivorus. Lea). There are a number of small beetles which damage timber, and which are popularly known as " borers." They attack it in various ways. Thus, the pow- der-post beetle (Lyctus hrunneus), previously dealt with in the AgricnUural (razette (page 273, 1920) reduces the sapwood of many Australian timbers to ^dust, wliile a second group of beetles, represented in Australia by Anohium ^■ome^ticum, also remain in the infested timber for years, burrowing through and through it in successive generations until there remains nothing but a shell covering a honeycombed mass, somewhat like wood that has been ravaged by white ants. I have had timber under observation in a building for over ten years, and the Anohium beetles and their larvae can still be found at work in the originally infested boards. Mr. C. French, junior, in a paper, "Furniture and Timber Boring Insects" (Joiio'nal of Agriculture of 28 FOREST INSECTS OF AUSTRALIA. Victoria, 1918), calls Anohium domesticum the ''pin-hole borer," but I would limit the popular name pin-hole borer to the beetles that cut direct burrows through the timber they attack and that do not reinfest it over and over again, as does Anohium domesticum. Under the ordinary conditions of forest life, when a tree is damaged it sickens and dies in the serub,*or it is cut down by the timber-getter. The decay or fermentation ttf the sap of the bark attracts all the wood-boring beetles in the vicinity. Some come simply for food and eat the surface,, others to both feed and lay their eggs upon it, while many beetles them- selves bore directly into the trunk. There are a number of small wood borers that can aptly be called ;;hot- hole borers; they bore circular burrows straight into the timber through the bark, and of these Platypus omniiwrus is a typical examf)le. The infestation of the timber by the true shot-hole borers may take place in the forest or brush before the fallen tree is hauled to the sawmill, or while the logs are lying in the sawmill yards previous to being cut up, or even after they have been sawn up and while the boards are seasoning in the stacks under the- sheds. The genus Fhtypus was formed by Herbest in 1793, for some European wood borers, and all the species of the genus were described and figured by^ the French entomologist Chapius in his " Monograph of the Family Platypeda? " in 1865. These beetles are widely distributed over the forest areas of the world, but they are most numerous in the forests of North and. South America and in the Malay Archipelago. One species has been. recorded from New Zealand, and three from Australia. The species now discussed was described by Lea from Tasmania, and I understand from him that this is the first record of it from the mainland. French lias described and figured a Malayan species {Platypus corpulentus) obtained from timber in a Melbourne timber yard ('' Handbook of Destructive Insects of Victoria,'' pt. v, p. 81, pi. 80) ; but so far as I know it has not become- established in Australia. Our common shot-hole borer {Platypus omnivorus) is widely distributed through the New South Wales coastal forests, commonly known as " brushes " or " cedar brushes." My observations on its habits and life history were- carried out last summer at a sawmill where large quantities of brush timber trees are cut up in boards and lengths for the manufacture of furniture in Sydney factories. The principal timbers damaged by these beetles are beech (Trochocarpa l-aurin-a), blackwood (Acacia rnclanoxylon), corkwood {Schizomeria ovata), sassafras {Dorypliora sassafras), and coaohwood. ( Ceratopetahtm apetalum) . These beetles are not noticeable during the winter months, but arc very active in December, January, and February. They not only penetrate the sap-wood, but bore into the solid material of the logs for some distance. They also attack the newly-sawn boards while they are drying, but when after exposure for a month or so, the sap has dried out, the timlxjr loses all its attractive properties and the borers leave them alone. When I visited the sawmill in the middle of February there was a stack of damaged boards drying in the shed; these were just in the condition attractive to shot-hole borers and there were members of beej;les in burrows formed in the wood. On some of the boards the beetles were busy laying their semi-transparent rounded eggs in the ends of burrows in contact with neighbouring boards, ' a]id on other boards we found the active larvae, while the outside of the- stack was showing signs of attack bv beetles that had made their way in. FOREST INSECTS OF AUSTRALIA. 29 II