Chapter III: Introduction (1)

The chief drawback to the study of entomology by the outsider has been, until modern times, the dry-as-dust technical terms used in the descriptive work, and the formidable names attached to many of the interesting little creatures, without any information about their habits or life histories. This is not surprising when we know the methods of some of the writers, and the material on which they often worked; namely, specimens obtained from abroad, often in a more or less damaged condition, discoloured and aborted from being squeezed among spirit collections, and with a brief or no record of their native home.

This has been all changed since trained students like Darwin, Wallace, Bates, and many others have spent years in the wilds studying zoology under natural surroundings, recording their observations while they made collections, and, with this wealth of material and accurate knowledge, gave such descriptions, that they have led into many new fields of investigation, one of the most important of which is economic entomology.

The Economic Entomologist has become more necessary and important every year. His investigations, carried on in the field and insectarium, have not only done much to popularise entomology, but have saved the countries interested untold wealth by the discovery of methods for checking the spread and ravages of injurious insects. The technical description of an insect is not sufficient to satisfy a practical man; he wants to know where it passes the earlier stages of its existence, what it feeds upon, and its place in the insect world.

In the open-air study of God’s tiny creatures many pleasant and profitable hours may be spent, and dwellers in the country need never feel time hang heavily on their hands, after they have once had their eyes opened to the wonders of Nature around them. It is the writer’s privilege to know and correspond with a great many busy men and women, scattered all over Australia, who are doing valuable work in collecting specimens, making notes, and seeing both with eyes and brain--true bush naturalists in every sense of the word.

In acknowledging my obligations to friends who have helped me in the course of this work, I desire to express my thanks to Mr. Masters for notes on the habits and range of insects, and the examination of specimens in the Macleay Museum; to Messrs. Sloane, Lea, Lyell, R. Turner, Tillyard, Tepper, Kershaw, Dun, Dr. Jefferis Turner, Dr. Goding, and Rev. T. Blackburn for various notes, specimens, and help generally. From Mr. C. French and C. French, Jr., I have had the loan of papers, books, and specimens unobtainable in Sydney, and from Mr. J. J. Fletcher suggestions and references to works in the N.S.W. Linnean Society’s library.

Many other correspondents have greatly assisted me in examining and determining specimens--Dr. Horvath, Dr. Forel, M. André, Dr. Sharp, Mr. W. F. Kirby, Mr. C. C. Green, Dr. Silvestri, Dr. Howard, Mr. W. M. Ashmead, and Mr. D. W. Coquillett.

I am indebted to Mr. Maiden for the identification of the native food plants of many insects.

I am also greatly indebted to Mr. W. S. Campbell for permission to use the drawings of Messrs. Grose, Burton, and Chambers, which have previously appeared in the pages of _The Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W._, and which for beauty and accuracy have rarely been surpassed. To Mr. Burton and Mr. Gurney my thanks are also due for their care in arranging and photographing other specimens. To the other friends who have kindly aided me in this undertaking in any way I beg here to offer my best thanks.

AUSTRALIAN INSECTS.

CLASSIFICATION.

In considering the classification of our insects, I have on the whole followed that adopted by Sharp in his “Insects” (vol. v., vi., 1895, 1899), Cambridge Natural History, but at the same time have considered it advisable, in a work of this kind, to leave out whenever possible the definition of the smaller sub-divisions. I have also made one important alteration in his scheme of classification by placing the Termitidae after the Blattidae, following on with the Embiidae and Psocidae, as I consider that these are nearer primitive Orthoptera than Neuroptera in their wing structure; we thus do away with Pseudo-Neuroptera that has always appeared to be an unnecessary division; and we should have the courage of our convictions and place them on one side or the other.

In zoological classification, the sub-kingdom Arthopoda, comprising creatures whose bodies are composed of rings or segments, and jointed legs, contains four large groups: (1) Arachnidae, spiders, mites, ticks, and scorpions; (2) Crustacea, crabs, shrimps, wood lice, &c.; (3) Myriapoda, centipedes, millepedes, &c.; (4) Insecta, insects; and a fifth group, Onychophora, containing the _Peripatus_, is now included. Though these creatures are broadly related, insects are readily distinguished from the members of the preceding groups.

The word Entomology is derived from two Greek words, _Entomos_, an insect; and _Logos_, a discourse. Insects are arranged by entomologists in Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. The first clearly-defined classification was published by Linnaeus in his “Systema Naturae,” 1758, where he divided them up into seven great orders; namely, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Aptera, distinguished by the number and structure of the wings. Later on (1778) Fabricius founded another classification, based on the structure of the organs of the mouth, but this artificial arrangement soon became obsolete.

In 1815, Kirby and Spence issued the work in four volumes entitled “An Introduction to Entomology or Elements of the Natural History of Insects,” a second revised edition coming out in 1816. This was the first attempt in England to popularise entomology, and to give the ordinary reader an idea of classification. In it will be found a great deal of general information that all young entomologists should read.

In Westwood’s “Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects,” published in 1839, a great advance was made, and the science placed on a sound footing; this has been a great help to all workers. He divided the insects into thirteen orders; but, though the tendency of American and European writers has been to increase these divisions, we have reduced them, and in Kirby’s “Text Book of Entomology” only seven are used. In the last work, “Insects” (Cambridge Natural History, 1895), by Sharp, the same seven orders are used, though in a somewhat different manner, with the addition of an eighth, Thysanoptera, to contain the single family Thripidae.

The correct naming of insects is based on the following rules: First comes the Order, which may contain a number of Families, all with certain peculiarities; as, for example, the straight-winged insects, Order Orthoptera, of which we will take the Family _Acridiidae_, “locusts.” This Family is again subdivided into smaller divisions or groups, called Genera; all the individuals comprised in the Genus have some well-defined external characters that form a common link binding them together: the individuals are known as Species. Therefore each insect when it has been described has a generic or group name, and a specific or individual name. The generic name should be based on some Greek or Latin root, preferably the former, but it cannot of course be compounded from both languages; it should on translation give some clue to the general distinctive character of the group. The specific name should be derived from Latin, and give the student some idea of the locality, markings, colour, or shape of some part of the insect under observation; thus, _Locusta australis_, Brunner, is the southern locust or grasshopper. As a matter of convenience to students, the name or abbreviated name of the entomologist who first described the insect follows the name when mentioned in scientific articles or catalogues, but is not usually done in general work.

The rules here laid down, however, are much more observed in the breach than in the observance. In former times most descriptions of insects were written in Latin, but at the present time they are being described not only in English, French, and German, but many other languages difficult for the ordinary English student to translate, such as Russian, Bohemian, Hungarian, &c., so that it is very difficult in many instances to find out whether some generic names have any meaning. The difficulty of creating generic names with pure roots that are not preoccupied by previous writers is always increasing, and to save the trouble of going through the lists of genera already in use, many zoologists use the names of other naturalists, names of localities, or “nonsense” names compounded of a jumble of letters. Then, again, when the genus is an extensive one containing many species, the describer gives it the Latinised name of the collector or some friend he wishes to honour, so that we may come across both a generic and specific name that throws no light on the identity of the insect. As an example, _Grabhamia curriei_; Coquillett named this mosquito in the first instance _Culex curriei_, Currie’s mosquito, which was consistent, but Theobald found on subsequent examination that it belonged to his Genus _Grabhamia_, dedicated to Dr. Grabham.

Even without these drawbacks, a beginner naturally finds the classification of insects a serious task, and the simple committing to memory of the scientific names a big undertaking; but when he has once grasped the rudiments, the system will soon appear to him.

One of the most difficult things the popular writer meets with in scientific work is to find a suitable vernacular name to fit a common insect; a beetle may be bright yellow, with a brown head; the first man comes along and calls it the “Yellow-bodied Beetle,” another passes by and says it is the “Brown-headed Beetle,” yet neither would be quite accurate or define its main peculiarities. Again, we often find a popular name that designates a particular insect in one district is used for quite a different species in another part of the State: quite recently I asked several correspondents for specimens of the beetle in the Maitland district known as the “Jackeroi,” and had four distinct species of weevils forwarded under that name. The “Dicky Rice” is the name given to a tiny grey weevil (_Prosayleus phytolymus_) by the orchardists about Windsor, but in other districts it is used indiscriminately for a number of other weevils.

Should any one take up a box full of unnamed and unclassified insects, he will feel like a stranger in a picture gallery without a catalogue; for, while everything is very beautiful, how much more interesting if he only knew something about the subject; for the same reason, each insect named and arranged has an individuality that it did not previously possess.

DISTRIBUTION.

The insect fauna of Australia is as remarkable and distinctive in its peculiarities as the flora, and probably for the same reason,--the fact of its isolated position from the larger continental areas, and the configuration of the continent. If we take away the eastern mountain range running north and south from Cape York to Gippsland, we find an immense tract of almost level country with hardly a river of any size except the Murray and its tributaries, covered with thick scrub or open forest, great flat unbroken plains in the south; rolling downs towards the north; sand-hills, and low timbered ranges in the interior. It is half the year without any permanent water for hundreds of miles at a stretch; scorched with a blazing sun and fierce hot winds in summer, bleak and cold in the winter. Yet there is no desert country of any extent in the strict sense of the word in the most arid portion; for given a good fall of rain, the country, apparently parched beyond recovery, soon puts on a coat of green, wild flowers shoot out, insects and little creatures of all kinds emerge from their hiding places, and birds appear as if by magic.

Naturally our fauna, and the insects in particular, have had to adapt themselves to these extremes, and we find them with many curious habits without parallel in more normal countries.

Our fauna is extremely rich in gall-producing insects in many different orders; there are about 50 different species of coccids that form well defined galls upon their host plants, yet the only record of a gall-making coccid outside Australia is a single species in Mexico. Numbers of _Thripidae_ produce galls in the leaves or flower buds of our native shrubs, while the galls of _Psyllidae_, _Diptera_, and _Hymenoptera_ are very abundant.

Ants, _Formicidae_, swarm in the driest parts of the interior; and flies, of all kinds, blow flies, blue bottle, and the small house flies, are a perfect pest all through the summer months.

All our coastal scrubs are rich in flowering shrubs which provide food or hunting ground for a large insect population. The flower wasps, _Thynnidae_, (in which the males are large and handsome with well developed wings, but the females are diminutive and wingless,) comprise several hundred described species; the only other countries in which they are represented are the west coast of South America, and a few in the Pacific Islands. The allied ant-like _Mutillidae_ with their wingless females are more numerous in the interior. Though our country is very rich in Sawflies, _Tenthredinidae_, they all belong to genera peculiar to Australia; the members of the typical genus _Cimbex_ extending its range as far east as Japan do not reach us.

The low stunted flowering shrubs covering large patches of both the eastern and western coasts support an immense number of Jewel-beetles, Genus _Stigmodera_, also peculiar to this continent. We appear to have few forms allied to North or South America; our affinities are with Africa, and the Malay Peninsula; insects of well sustained flight, as the Orthoptera, are found here identical with species found in Africa and Asia.

Many insects abundant in the eastern coastal districts are very limited in their range; but on the western watershed others may be found ranging right across to the Indian Ocean.

STRUCTURE.

The imago or perfect insect is encased in a more or less perfect horny integument composed of a substance called chiten, which forms in many a regular box containing all the vital organs. Every insect can be divided into three primary divisions: first, the head, to which is attached the mouth parts, antennae, and eyes; second, the thorax or chest, sometimes forming a solid mass, but properly composed of three segments, namely, the prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax, to which are attached three pairs of legs, and two pairs of wings (there are, however, many exceptions to the last, as some have only one pair, and others are wingless); third, the abdomen or body, consisting of a number of segments variously estimated from five to eleven, the normal number being ten, which enclose the digestive, breathing, and reproductive organs.

Every insect in the first instance comes from an egg or living larva produced by the female, and though, even to the naturalist, it seems very hard to account for the countless millions of some of the smaller insects such as aphids and scale insects which suddenly swarm as if by magic over plants, there is no such thing as spontaneous generation; insects cannot come out of the ground from nothing, or be produced from the crystalline dew upon the foliage as we have sometimes found stated in newspapers. Again, a grain weevil cannot change into a flour moth, or _vice versa_, as many of our farmers will say in all good faith. In some groups the insects are produced as living larvae, and commence to feed at once; but in the majority, eggs are deposited in or upon the food, in which state they may remain without hatching but a few days, or more than a year. As soon as the little caterpillar or grub emerges, it starts upon its food, spending the whole of this stage of its existence in eating and growing, moulting at intervals by casting off the outer skin to accommodate its increasing bulk; when full-grown and ready for the final moult, it stops eating, crawls away into a suitable place, and forms a cocoon, cell, or shell, in which it pupates. It is now a chrysalis or pupa, quiescent, without any movement except a slight twitching of the tip of the abdomen when disturbed. Under the pupal covering the different organs of the perfect insect become gradually defined, until one bright day the last evolution is completed, and with a few convulsive movements the perfect insect bursts out of its enveloping swaddling clothes and appears in all its beauty and perfection.

Some groups, however, undergo a much more simple or incomplete metamorphosis; emerging from the egg a baby insect ready to eat, (like the grasshopper,) the same food as its mother; it undergoes a series of moults, and after casting its skin every time, becomes more nearly perfect without any true pupal stage, and finally after the last moult comes forth with well-developed wings, a perfect insect.

The typical insect is furnished with a large compound eye on either side of the head composed of a number of small sections called facets, varying in number from sixteen to several thousands in some of the more highly developed families, and two or three simple eyes forming bright shining dots between the compound pair called ocelli. In some groups these ocelli are wanting; in others both eyes and ocelli, so the insects are therefore blind.

The mouth parts are composed of several hard plates; in chewing or biting (mandibulate) insects, they consist of a pair of stout jaws, in front of which lies the labrum, and behind the maxillae; again behind the maxillae follows a second pair fused together to form the labium. Both labium and maxillae are provided with a pair of slender jointed appendages known as labial and maxillary palpi; these are used as fingers to assist in drawing food into the mouth. In those groups with sucking (haustellate) mouths these various parts are coalesced into a simple sucking tube ending in a sharp style-like tip, which is buried in the tissue of the plant when the insect is feeding. The antennae when well developed consist of a number of distinct rings or segments, standing out on either side of the head, and generally attached to the front of the head between the eyes; they serve as organs of touch, smell, and probably hearing. The legs contain five distinct joints; first, the coxae or hips; next, the trochanters, small joints with a ball and socket-like action from which the femora or thighs move backward and forward; to these are attached the tibiae or shanks terminating in the tarsi or feet at the extremity. Most insects are also furnished with a pair of tarsal claws, between which may be a small pad, called the pulvillus or empodium.

The wings of insects vary considerably. Some are membranous and smooth; others are covered with down or scales; while in many the fore pair are solid chitinous wing-cases, useless for flight, and chiefly acting as protective covers to the hind pair, which, when the insect is at rest, lie folded up beneath them. The flying wings are traversed with branching tubes called nervures, which, while strengthening them, also perform an important function in the breathing of the insect, and are pierced with small openings; these openings are very distinct in some of the hymenoptera.

Insects breathe by means of openings situated along the sides of the thoracic and abdominal segments called spiracles, opening out into branching air vessels called trachea, which pass into the interior, ramifying throughout the body and extending into every part and appendage, even to the tips of the antennae. The nervous system, the life and movement of the insect, consists of a double chain of ganglia, (_ganglion_, a knot,) nerve cells, which are connected with finer encircling nerve tissues, that radiate in all directions, returning to the ganglia, the latter regulating the nerve sensation. Therefore, as their perceptions are so much less confined to the brain than in vertebrate animals, they cannot feel to the same extent. Thus, you can frequently find a locust, beetle, or ant that has escaped from a bird, minus its abdomen, still crawling about, quite able to move all its remaining organs. You can even remove the long slender body of a dragon-fly, and carefully insert a bit of grass stalk of the same length and weight to balance the wings, and it will fly off quite readily; but of course they will not live long after such injuries.

We know that many insects must have very keen perceptions of sound, or the movement of the air around them, for they will drop to the ground at the least alarm, before the bush upon which they are resting has been touched. Very little is understood about the organs of hearing, except in the case of grasshoppers and locusts where the ears have been located at the base of the abdomen or on the front leg; these in some species can be detected with an ordinary lens. It is considered by some writers that the hairs and spiracles upon the different parts of the body may transmit sound and act as ears. The organs of sound are very interesting, but can be better treated when dealing with the different groups.

Usually, there are only two sexes of insects, males and females; but among those living in social communities, like the bees, ants, wasps, and termites, the majority of the inhabitants are neuters. These neuters are usually aborted females, which do all the work in the construction of the nest and look after the food supply of the rest of the community.

FOSSIL INSECTS

In comparison with other countries, fossil remains of insects are scarce; only ten species have been described and named. My information on this subject is obtained from Messrs. Etheridge and Olliff’s Memoir of the Geological Survey, (Palaeontology No. 7,); “The Mesozoic and Tertiary Insects of New South Wales,” 1890. The first record of fossil insects was made by Moore in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1870, entitled “Note on a plant and insect bed on the Rocky River, N.S.W.” “These insects were obtained from a chocolate-coloured micaceous laminated marl, forming a bed ten feet thick, at a depth of about one hundred feet from the surface, and forming a portion of the Tertiary drift worked at the above locality. The latter are probably of Pliocene age.” (E. & O.)

Jack obtained the wing of a dragon fly in the Cretaceous beds of the Flinders River, N. Queensland, which was described and figured by Woodward under the name of _Aeschna flindersensis_ in the Geological Magazine, 1884. It was entombed in a dark chocolate limestone.

The insects described and figured by Messrs. Etheridge and Olliff consist of a cicada (_C. lowei_) from the “Taeniopteris-bearing beds of the Talbragar River in New South Wales, and of Lower Mesozoic age”: a fly, _Chironomus venerabilis_: and a mayfly, _Ephemera culleni_: and a beetle larva belonging to the _Lampyridae_, under the name of _Palaeolycus problematicus_, from the Tertiary beds at Emmaville, New England.

From the Ipswich Coal Measures of Queensland comes the fossil wing of a Buprestid beetle, allied to existing Stigmodera, which they called _Mesostigmodera typica_. Among the insect remains from this locality the authors note several wings that appear to belong to weevils and other beetles allied to existing species.

Mr. W. S. Dun informs me that insect remains have been found at Narellan N.S.W. in Wianamatta shales, and also in the brick pits at St. Peters near Sydney.

Order I.--APTERA.

Spring-tails and Silver-fish.

These tiny little creatures are wingless in all stages of their existence, with only six segments in the abdomen; they are active little creatures of very delicate structure, found in all kinds of situations. We have many indigenous species, but on account of their small size and retiring habits they have been seldom noticed, and a wide field awaits some future entomologist who undertakes the study of these interesting insects.

Very little systematic work had been done with these insects until Lubbock’s “Monograph of the Collembola and Thysanura” was published by the Ray Society in 1873. In this work not only are a large number described, but observations made upon their habits and life histories are recorded.

Family 1. Spring-tails.

COLLEMBOLA.

These are among the smallest insects, for the largest does not measure more than ⅓ of an inch in length, and most of them are very much smaller. They are chiefly found in damp situations among loose soil, decaying vegetable matter, and such like material, and can stand a very cold temperature. They are easily distinguished from the silver-fish by the few joints in the antennae, and the great powers of jumping they possess by means of their long jointed tail appendages.

Our common species, _Lipura sp._, is at times very abundant in the loose soil; after a sudden thunderstorm they are often washed out in such numbers that, carried into the little pools along the road side, they form a dull blue scum on the surface of the water. They measure ⅓ of a line in length; are of a dull blue colour, and have short, thickened antennae and legs; the body is distinctly segmented and rounded at the tip. Resting on the surface of the water they are constantly in motion, springing up every moment like little rubber balls.

Another species belonging to the Genus _Smynthurus_, allied to _S. viridis_, a European form, but probably an undescribed native species, appeared in great numbers in lucerne paddocks in S. Australia in 1896, where they did a great deal of damage by eating the surface of the leaves, swarming over the fields in countless millions.

It is a member of this genus (_Smynthurus lutus_) that Lubbock has described in such an entertaining manner when recounting the courtship of these queer little creatures.

Family 2. Silver-fish.

THYSANURA.

The silver-fish are divided into two distinct groups: those clothed with fine loose silver-like scales, and those in which the scales are absent and are replaced by fine hairs. The abdomen contains ten segments; their bodies are elongated, furnished with long, slender, many jointed antennae tapering to the extremities, and the tip of the abdomen carries two or three slender thread-like tail appendages. Though the group has been divided into four divisions, there are not many species described; they frequent warm, dry, dark situations.

The common Silver-Fish.

(Redrawn from Marlatt’s “Household Insects.”)]

_Lepisma saccharina_, the Common European Silver-fish, measures up to ½ an inch in length, and is covered with delicate lead-coloured scales that give it a dull metallic lustre. They are great pests in libraries, where they eat the glaze on papers or clothbound books, pasted labels, or even the surface of etchings and engravings. Our common species was generally supposed to be this insect; but Dr. Silvestri, to whom I submitted a number of specimens caught in Sydney houses, says that it is _Lepisma longicaudata_, the common African species unknown in Europe.

There is another tiny, little, dull yellow species found under stones in ants’ nests that Silvestri has named _Lepisma cursitans_. In the dry western scrubs of the interior under stones, hiding in the dust, I collected _Lepisma producta_. In a natural open cave among the sandstone cliffs on the sea shore near Gosford N.S.W. I found a number of a very large species resting on the bare rock, with a striking resemblance to small dried shrimps; for this peculiar species Silvestri proposes the name of _Allomachilus froggatti_.

Order II.--ORTHOPTERA.

Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, Termites, &c.

1. The labrum, or upper lip.
2. Mandibles.
3. Jaws.
4. The lower labrum.
5. Tongue.

(Redrawn from Duncan’s “Transformations of Insects.”)]

The members of this order are known as straight winged insects, because the narrow membranous fore wings (elytra) are usually laid flat along the sides of the body, covering the fan-shaped hind wings that are folded up beneath them. In some of the families we find groups or individuals with the wings rudimentary or so modified in structure as to be useless for flight, and in a few the perfect insects of one or both sexes are wingless. In some, like the typical grasshoppers, the hind legs have the thighs greatly developed and adapted for springing or jumping; in the Mantids the two hind pairs of legs are simple, but the front pair are produced into curved, spined tibiae and femora, weapons well adapted to capture their prey. The mouth parts are composed of a rounded upper lip, with two stout mandibles, and a pair of jaws to which are attached jointed appendages (maxillary palpi), the labrum or hind lip bearing similar appendages called the labial palpi; besides these they have a stout spade-shaped tongue, so that they both bite off and chew up their food.

Though the majority are vegetarian in their habits, one group, the mantids, are carnivorous, and in these insects the mouth parts are produced into a sharp point to the tip of the jaws.

They emerge from the eggs that are deposited singly or in masses in or upon the ground or attached to the twigs of their food plant; as baby insects they are much like the adult, undergoing a series of moults without any true pupal stage, until in the last moult they emerge with fully developed wings and reproductive organs.

The Orthoptera comprise a number of very different looking insects, among them some giants of the insect world like the stick and leaf insects. I have placed the earwigs, cockroaches, termites, embids, book lice, grasshoppers, crickets, mantis and phasmids together, though there is some difference of opinion among entomologists as to the exact position of the termites, embids, and book lice. The latest list of the Orthoptera is W. F. Kirby’s “Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera, vol. I.,” containing all the named species of the _Forficulidae_, _Hemimeridae_, _Blattidae_, _Mantidae_, and _Phasmidae_. This work was published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1904: a second volume (not yet published) dealing with the locusts, grasshoppers, and crickets will complete this work. The latter were catalogued by F. Walker 1869–1870 in five parts, (Catalogue of the Specimens of Dermaptera, Saltatoria, and Supplement to the Blattariae in the British Museum), which this work of Kirby’s when finished will supersede.

Among the chief specialists on Orthoptera may be mentioned Henri de Saussure, who besides his monographs in the “Biologia Centrali-Americana,” has published many papers in scientific journals, of which the most important (containing descriptions of Australian species) is his “Melanger Orthopterologiques” in the Memoirs de la Societe de Physique et d’Histoire Naturelle de Geneve 1863–4, and in subsequent volumes. Brunner von Wattenwyl has described other Australian species in different German publications, and in 1893 published his “Révision des Système des Orthoptères” in the Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova.

Kirby described other of our species chiefly in papers contributed to the “Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” and the Transactions of the Zoological and Entomological Societies.

Family 1. Earwigs.

FORFICULIDAE.

These insects are slender in form, with somewhat rounded heads bearing two large facetted eyes, but no ocelli; and long slender antennae composed of short oval joints. The elytra, very short, usually not extending beyond the hind margin of the thorax, cover the hind wings when at rest. These hind wings are short but broad, somewhat resembling a human ear when expanded for flight, but neatly folded up beneath the abbreviated elytra at other times. In many groups however both elytra and wings are absent, the insects trusting to their legs and powers of burrowing to get out of danger, and even those with well developed wings seldom use them. The thorax is narrow; the legs stout, well adapted both for digging and running; and the abdomen, tapering to the extremity, terminates in a pair of callipers or pincer-like processes, sometimes curved and toothed into remarkable shapes. It is the possession of these curious anal appendages that has led to the earwig being popularly credited with all kinds of evil propensities; but though they certainly look very formidable they can only give one’s finger a harmless pinch if handled carelessly, and are otherwise perfectly harmless.

The common Earwig found in the sand along river banks.

(Original W. B. Gurney.)]

Earwigs are met with chiefly in damp situations; some of the smaller ones can be collected by pulling the rotten bark off dead trees; others are to be found under stones or logs; and in summer time many will be found in burrows in the damp sand on the water’s edge after the manner of mole crickets. In point of numbers this is not a large family, only about 520 species being described from all parts of the world; and only about 20 from Australia, so that they are poorly represented in this country.

The Genus _Labidura_ contains 15 described species from all parts of the world; _Labidura riparia_, a cosmopolitan species ranging from Europe to Asia and Africa does not reach Australia; but we have a typical species in _Labidura truncata_, which has similar habits, living in burrows in the sand along the edges of lagoons and creeks. It measures an inch in length, and is of a general reddish brown tint mottled with dull yellow; and the dorsal segments of the abdomen are deeply barred with reddish black almost confluent down the centre. The head is large; the prothorax small, with the elytra and wings well developed; the abdomen, rather narrow at the base, is broadest behind the large callipers, which are slender, furnished with two blunt teeth on the inner edge and meet at the extremities. It differs from _L. ripara_ in having the apical edge of the last abdominal segment truncate, and not scalloped as in the former.

The next large Genus _Anisolabis_ is also world wide in its range and contains 36 described species, 3 of which are recorded from Australia, 2 from Tasmania, 1 from New Zealand, and 1 from Norfolk Island. _Anisolabis colossea_, our largest common wingless species, also recorded from New Caledonia, was described by Dohrn (Ann. Museo Genov. 1879), and a second variety by Burr under the name of _A. minor_ in 1902; but it is most variable in size, ranging from over 1½ inches in length to less than half an inch. It is of a uniform dull reddish brown colour, with a rounded head, truncate thorax, and elongate broad abdomen terminating in a pair of short stout finger-like appendages fitting close together and turned up slightly at the tips.

A second species of _Anisolabis_ common in Tasmania and recorded from the top of Mount Wellington is black, somewhat broad and flattened on the dorsal surface, with the anal appendages short, slender, and twisted over to the left side as if they had been damaged. It was described by Bormans (C.R. Soc. Ent. Belg. 1880) under the name of _Anisolabis tasmanica_.

The large wingless earwig.

(Original W. W. Froggatt.)]

_Labia grandis_ described by Dubrony (Ann. Museo Genov. 1879) comes from North Australia. The genus contains 47 described species; several undetermined species in my collection are small dark brown earwigs with well developed elytra, and anal appendages very narrow at the base, small, and curving over at the sharp tips.

Family BLATTIDAE.

1. _Blatta orientalis_ ♂ (Linn.).
2. _Blatta orientalis_ ♀ (Linn.).
3. _Blatta orientalis_ Larva (Linn.).
4. _Polyzosteria limbata_ (Burm.).
5. _Periplaneta australasiae_ (Fabr.).
6. _Geoscapheus giganteus_ (Tepper).
7. _Panesthia laevicollis_ (Sauss.).
8. _Periplaneta americana_ (Linn.).
9. _Phyllodromia germanica_ (Linn.).
10. _Periplaneta americana_ (Linn.).]

_Apterygida arachidis_, a cosmopolitan species recorded from all parts of the world, is found in Australia; and the common European typical species, _Forficula auricularia_, which is widely distributed over the old world and America, is not recorded from Australia in Kirby’s Catalogue, but I have specimens in my collection given me by Mr. J. J. Walker taken in New Zealand, who told me he had also captured it in Tasmania, so that it is more than probable it will be found on the mainland.

Family 2. Cockroaches.

BLATTIDAE.

The typical cockroach is a shield-shaped insect, with stout horny plates covering both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the thorax and abdomen. The head, tucked under and hidden, when viewed from above by the rim of the prothorax, is furnished with two large compound eyes placed well in front; in some groups there are also two ocelli; the antennae springing from below the eyes are very long and slender, composed of a great number of short ringed segments. The jaws are well adapted for their vegetarian habits, though some among the domestic species are almost omnivorous in their tastes. Tepper considers that several species destroy the grubs and caterpillars of injurious cut-worms, but this wants further confirmation. Their legs are long and stout, covered with spines, and in the species living under stones and logs the legs are usually thickened. Many species are provided with two pairs of stout membranous wings, while the front pair (elytra) are thickened, opaque and coarsely veined; the hind wings, though frequently small, are fan-shaped, membranous and well adapted for flight.

The cockroach is one of the most ancient of insects, and roaches are common in fossil beds both in Europe and America, many of them allied to our still existing forms.

The female has a curious habit of carrying her keeled egg capsule protruding from her abdomen for some time before she deposits it in a suitable situation.

A number of cosmopolitan species might be called domestic insects as they are only found about houses or the haunts of man; in London _Blatta orientalis_ is commonly known as the “black beetle,” swarming in cellars and kitchens. In Sydney the large yellow roach that comes flying round the room to the light is _Periplaneta americana_, an introduction from America, which has almost driven the smaller indigenous _Periplaneta australasiae_ out of our houses; while in some of the southern and eastern States of America our Australian roach has been introduced and become the common domestic pest. The little German Roach, or “Croten Bug” of America, _Phyllodromia germanica_, is sometimes found about the Sydney wharves. Many of these bush and household roaches are provided with glands at the tip of the abdomen, from which they can discharge (when disturbed) a foetid odour as a means of defence. The cockroaches are a very extensive family; Marlatt estimates that at least 5,000 occur all over the world; about 212 species are given by Kirby (Catalogue Orthoptera vol. I. British Museum 1904) as Australian. Most of our typical forms are wingless, and live under rotten logs or stones; some of the largest species are to be found in the dry interior.

Saussure has described a number of our species (Mem. Soc. Geneve 1863–4–9): Walker many others, (Brit. Mus. Catalogue Blattidae 1868): and Tepper has been a constant worker at this group in South Australia for some years; descriptions of most of his species will be found in the Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia between 1893–95, and the Zoology of the Horn Expedition 1896.

The Genus _Panesthia_ contains 44 described species ranging from India to Australia, of which 7 are peculiar to this country.

_Panesthia laevicollis_ is common in forest land, where it is found burrowing in damp rotting logs. It is a wingless black insect, measuring nearly 1½ inches in length, with the thorax narrow and flattened above the head, the latter furnished with comparatively short antennae; the legs short but very spiny; and the dorsal surface of the abdomen covered with irregular punctures.

_Cosmozosteria coolgardiensis_ is a very distinctive, wingless, dull yellow species broadly marked with black on the thoracic segments, and finely barred with the same colour on the upper edges of the abdominal segments. It measures about 1¼ inches in length, and ranges from South Australia to the central parts of Western Australia.

_Polyzosteria limbata_ is a large dark brown cockroach margined on the outer edge of the dorsal plates with yellow; it is common in the vicinity of Sydney, and may be often noticed in the neighbourhood of Botany resting on stumps and fences; it has the habit, like several other species, of discharging a most offensive liquid when disturbed. _Polyzosteria pubescens_ is an allied but much larger insect, measures up to 2 inches in length and 1½ inch in breadth; it is of a uniform dull brown tint, and is common about Kalgoorlie W.A., and will be probably found to range over a large portion of the interior.

_Polyzosteria mitchellii_ is a variegated, dull metallic green cockroach ranging over the same country, but not more than 1½ inches in length. It has the upper surface margined on the edges with yellow, and is mottled on the legs and under-surface.

Fig. 6.

=Figs.= =5= and =6=.--Desert Cockroaches.

5. _Polyzosteria mitchellii_ (Angas). The green-banded
cockroach.

6. _Polyzosteria pubescens_ (Tepper). The Pubescent
cockroach.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

_Geoscapheus giganteus_ is our giant cockroach, measuring 2½ inches in length and 1½ across the middle of the body. Like the last three it is wingless, with the large prothoracic shield overlapping the head. In colour it is bright reddish brown, crenulated and very rugose in the centre of the dorsal surface. In the same year (1895) that Tepper obtained this fine species, Saussure described another large roach under the name of _Macropanesthia rhinoceros_, forming a new genus for its reception and adding a second species which he named _M. muelleri_.

Family 3. White Ants.

TERMITIDAE.

The giant termite of Northern Australia, showing the
structure of the wings of the male.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

The exact position of these insects in every scheme of classification has been more or less vague, and while some writers place them in the Orthoptera, more include them in the Neuroptera; others again to get over the difficulty have formed a halting ground between the two and called them Pseudo-Neuroptera. In the “Genera Insectorum,” Desneux has followed Brullé and Comstock and placed them in a distinct order as Isoptera. Grassi, one of the greatest living authorities on the anatomy of insects, considers they are allied to the Neuroptera: but taking the broad ground of outward structure upon which the Orders were formed, and comparing the perfect termites, especially my giant species from North Australia, _Mastotermes darwiniensis_, with other families, I consider they are closely allied to the cockroaches, and therefore place them here. Take the wing away from some of the larger species and they have a striking resemblance to earwigs, and one of our greatest authorities on the family (Hagen) actually described a damaged earwig from Japan as a termite.

Termites are widely distributed over all the warmer regions of the world, though most numerous in tropical countries; and a number of fossil species have been described from Europe and America.

When Hagen’s “Monograph of the Termitidae” was published in 1858, only seven species were recorded from Australia and Tasmania, and one or two of these are very doubtful. In my “Australian Termitidae” (Pro. Linn. Soc. 1896–1897) the number was brought up to 35, and there are probably many more to be discovered, so that the family is very well represented in this country. Our species have been subdivided into nine genera placed in six sub-families, which are chiefly formed on the wing structure.

Broadly speaking their habits are very similar, and each nest or community consists of the same castes. First in order come the dark brown perfect winged male and female insects, only found in the regular nests in the early summer months; for soon after their wings are developed, the workers cut openings in the clay walls of the nest, and they fly out in a continuous stream, generally just before sunset, and when all have left the workers again close up the openings for another year. In the winged state they are known as “flying ants,” and on a warm summer night sometimes come in such numbers round the lights, dropping their easily detached wings all over the table, that they are a regular nuisance.

These perfect termites have well developed eyes; slender antennae composed of short, rounded, bead-like joints standing out in front of the rounded flattened head; and a short stout thorax fitting close against the elongate rounded abdomen. They are furnished with two pairs of similar, elongated, narrow wings of uniform width rounded at the tips, with primitive parallel neuration; these are loosely attached to the basal wing-flap by a cross suture, where they readily tear them across; when at rest they are laid flat over each other down the back, extending well beyond the tip of the body: the legs are short and stout.

Their flight is feeble, and of the millions that swarm out and flutter away from the nest, probably not more than halfa-dozen couples are fortunate enough to get into a suitable place to found a fresh colony.

Family _Termitidae_.

_Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus_ (Froggatt).

1. Male (wings closed).
2. Male (wings expanded).
3. Worker.
4. Nymph.
5. Soldier.]

The next caste, that form the bulk of the life of the nest, are the workers, delicate soft white creatures with pale yellow, rounded, flattened heads; blind, but furnished with slender antennae; and a pair of short stout toothed jaws hidden by the labrum, and which in the course of their labours do such immense damage to all kinds of both native and imported timber. The third caste, also always present, are the soldiers, that simply act as guards for the whole nest, leaving all the work of building, feeding the young, and gathering supplies to the workers. In the fourth we have the Queen, which was originally one of the winged forms; after casting her wings she is impregnated, and while the head, thorax and appendages remain as before, the abdomen swells into a white cylindrical sack as thick as one’s little finger; the chitinous plates that once fitted close together are now widely separated and appear as narrow black bands. She is simply a mass of egg tubes; and, looked after and fed by the attendant workers, she devotes her life to laying eggs, which, like grains of sugar, are carried away and piled up by the workers in adjacent chambers under the nursery. From these eggs develop tiny white specks of matter that gradually develop by a regular series of moults into workers, soldiers, and immature winged forms; the latter have large rounded bodies and rounded wing pads representing the future wings. Supplementary Queens are sometimes found that have never gone through the winged stage; they have the general structure and large corrugated bodies of the mature queens. The typical white ants’ nest, known as a Termitarium, usually consists in the first instance of a mass of woody laminated material that might be likened to papier-mache, originally a stump or portion of a log that has been chewed up and voided in the form of a mortar-like substance. This termitarium is full of irregular galleries running like a network all through the mass, with the means of exit running out under the nest; a mass of stout terraced structure above the ground level surrounds the Royal Chambers, which might be likened in size and shape to an inverted saucer, from which the enclosed Queen cannot escape, but the attendant workers can pass to and fro. Above this is a rounded oval mass often as big as a child’s head, which resembles stiff brown paper folded round and round, full of fine openings, and is easily crumbled up; this, for want of a better word, I call the nursery, as it contains all the minute larvae as they emerge from the eggs. The formation above the nursery is more irregular, and terminates in a rounded cap. The whole of this woody structure is covered with a stout enveloping wall of fine clay, which, carried up grain by grain, has been cemented together into a firm earthy wall in contact with the woody structure at the base of the nest, but often with a cavity at the apex.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

The nests of the _Eutermes_ are sometimes built over stumps, but more often on the branches or trunks of trees, where they form rounded or oval masses a foot or two in diameter, with covered galleries leading down to the ground. In these nests there is no distinct outer earthy sheath; when near the ground, earth and wood are blended together in a very compact mass, full of small galleries running at every angle, and have no distinct structure like the first group. When the nest is placed on a tree trunk or branch away from the ground it consists almost entirely of woody matter, and may be quite soft and papery beneath the outer crust. In the West Indies these nests are popularly known as “Negroheads.”

Other groups are never known to construct true nests, but form chambers and galleries under the bark of trees, in banks, or simply under logs and stones. Some in the interior are said to disappear underground from their nests in the dry summer time, returning with the first rains and mending up the dilapidated walls.

The members of the two genera _Mastotermes_ and _Calotermes_ have the wings much more thickly veined than the more simple _Termes_ and _Eutermes_.

_Mastotermes darwiniensis_ is the largest common species taken flying round the lights at night in North Queensland and Port Darwin. It is very dark brown, with thickly veined wings, and measures 1⅓ inches in length from the front of the head to the tip of the folded wings. Nothing is known of its nests or the other forms of this species. It is the sole representative of the sub-family. I have, through the observations of Mr. N. W. Christie of Port Darwin, good reasons for believing that _Termes errabundus_, described from the soldiers and workers only, is identical with this giant termite. He informs me that at Point Charles he finds the nests in every old post or stump in the wet season.

_Calotermes longiceps_ is the common Sydney species of this group, of which we have six described from Australia, and one from New Zealand. The soldier measures ½ inch in length, with a long broad head armed with blackish projecting jaws, which are irregularly toothed on the inner edges. The _Calotermes_ live in logs and trees in small communities; they form no regular nest; this species is found in logs of firewood about Sydney. In some species the soldiers are very rare, the community consisting of immature winged forms and workers.

Family TERMITIDAE.

Termitarium of the Meridonial White Ant, _Termes
meridionalis_ (Froggatt).

“The Magnetic Nest,” Palmerston, Port Darwin, N. Australia.

(Original photo. N. Holtz.)]

* * * * *

In the RHINOTERMINAE we have two species, differing from the former group in having the wings very finely wrinkled or reticulated; and also in having two distinct forms of soldiers, one much larger than the other, but both with pear shaped heads and pointed finely-toothed jaws. _Rhinotermes intermedius_ is not uncommon in old stumps about Sydney; the winged forms are of a light reddish brown colour with delicate wings; both the workers and soldiers of the major type have large yellow heads, the latter armed with curved jaws; while the heads of the small form of soldiers are much more slender.

=Fig. 12.=--Vertical section of nest of the same species
shewing the structure of the woody interior, with the outer
clay covering.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

The typical TERMITINAE comprise nearly all the species that build regular mounds, containing countless thousands of individuals. _Termes lacteus_ is the common species that does so much mischief to buildings about Sydney, and though not a mound builder about the city, yet from Colo Vale to Victoria and also northward it forms tall rounded nests up to six feet high and very regular in structure. The soldier is about ¼ inch long, with a bright, yellow, pear shaped head, and a pair of curved jaws; it also has an opening in the front of the head above the jaws from which it can discharge a globule of milk-like fluid when disturbed. This species with several allied forms has been placed in the genus _Coptotermes_. _Termes meridionalis_ has a small soldier, almost white, with a rounded yellow head armed with two slender curved jaws, and an incurved tooth in the centre of the inner margin; it measures a little over ⅙ of an inch in length. It has a world wide reputation on account of building what is known as the “Magnetic Nest,” built like a brick wall and always pointing north and south, with the wall facing east and west. Jack (Pro. Royal Society, Queensland, 1897) considers that this is done by the termites always building towards the rising sun; so that, as they work at night, the clay will dry rapidly. They are found in several localities on Cape York and near Port Darwin. Several very distinct species are found in the interior. _Termes perniger_ ranges from Kalgoorlie W.A. to Western Queensland; the soldier is a very dark coloured insect with a very large head furnished with large powerful toothed jaws, and is very savage. _T. rubriceps_ is found in small colonies in Central Australia, forming their nests at the roots of the tussocks of spinifex grass. _T. krisiformes_, a species in which the soldier has slender irregular jaws like a Malay kris, makes tiny little mounds about Bulli N.S.W. or forms colonies under the shelter of a log.

(Original photo. W.W.F.)]