AUSTRALIAN
INSECTS.
BY
WALTER W. FROGGATT, F.L.S.,
Government Entomologist, New South Wales.
Member of the Association of Economic Entomologists, U.S. America;
Member of the Société Entomologique de France; Member of Council,
Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, and N.S. Wales Naturalists’ Club.
With 37 Plates, containing 270 Figures, also
180 text-blocks.
[Illustration]
Sydney:
WILLIAM BROOKS & COMPANY, LIMITED, Printers and Publishers,
17 Castlereagh Street.
PREFACE.
There have been so many enquiries from people in all parts of
Australia, as well as from visitors from other countries, for a book
dealing with our insects, that the writer thinks that the time has come
when a Text Book dealing exclusively with Australian Entomology will be
well received, both at home and abroad, by all those interested in this
subject.
The difficulty has been to write in a popular style so as to interest
the general reader, and induce him to further follow his studies of
the wonders of Natural History, yet at the same time to define the
characteristics of the insects described and give some idea of their
classification, so that it will not lose its value as a Text Book to
the student while enlarging the circle of its readers.
Since the year 1770, when Sir Joseph Banks captured the first diamond
beetle on the sandy shores of Botany Bay, the majority of our insects
have been described in rare old English or foreign publications, the
Zoology of Voyages and Travels, or the Transactions and Proceedings of
Scientific Societies consisting of many hundreds of volumes written in
many different languages.
Many of these original descriptions, written in English or Latin,
are so brief and obscure that without seeing the type they are quite
unintelligible even to the trained entomologist, and therefore are
absolutely of no value to the beginner.
Most of the earlier describers of Australian insects confined their
attention to beetles, moths, and butterflies. Among the few exceptions
are Westwood, who has identified himself with insects in nearly all the
orders, and as he figured many of them (often in colours), there is no
trouble in determining his species; and Walker, who also described many
unique Australian insects (chiefly in the British Museum Catalogues);
but his often vague descriptions, without details or figures, have
puzzled all entomologists who have not had access to his types.
During the last decade, however, as specialists have taken up the
work of monographing the more neglected orders, and as large general
collections of insects have been obtained from what were, at one time,
inaccessible parts of Australia, a writer can now obtain satisfactory
data as to the classification and number of Australian insects hitherto
wanting.
With these views the present text book has been prepared.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE iii.
CONTENTS vii.
LIST OF PLATES xi.
INTRODUCTION xiii.
CLASSIFICATION 1
DISTRIBUTION 4
STRUCTURE 6
FOSSIL INSECTS 9
THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF INSECTS 395
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND TYPES 409
PUBLICATIONS DEALING WITH AUSTRALIAN ENTOMOLOGY 418
ADDENDA 423
INDEX 425
[Illustration: “The White Ant City,” Somerset, Cape York, N.
Queensland.
(After Savelle-Kent)]
CONTENTS.
Order I.--APTERA.
Page
Family 1. COLLEMBOLA 10
„ 2. THYSANURA 11
Order II.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family 1. FORFICULIDAE 15
„ 2. BLATTIDAE 17
„ 3. TERMITIDAE 20
„ 4. EMBIIDAE 28
„ 5. PSOCIDAE 30
„ 6. MANTIDAE 31
„ 7. PHASMIDAE 34
„ 8. ACRIDIIDAE 40
„ 9. LOCUSTIDAE 46
„ 10. GRYLLIDAE 48
Order III.--NEUROPTERA.
Family 1. PERLIDAE 50
„ 2. ODONATA 51
„ 3. EPHEMERIDAE 54
„ 4. SIALIDAE 55
„ 5. PANORPIDAE 56
„ 6. HEMEROBIIDAE 57
„ 7. TRICHOPTERA 66
Order IV.--HYMENOPTERA.
Family 1. CEPHIDAE 70
„ 2. ORYSSIDAE 70
„ 3. SIRICIDAE 71
„ 4. TENTHREDINIDAE 71
„ 5. CYNIPIDAE 73
„ 6. CHALCIDIDAE 74
„ 7. PROCTOTRYPIDAE 81
„ 8. ICHNEUMONIDAE 83
„ 9. BRACONIDAE 85
„ 10. CHRYSIDIDAE 87
„ 11. EVANIIDAE 88
„ 12. MEGALYRIDAE 90
„ 13. FORMICIDAE 91
„ 14. MUTILLIDAE 98
„ 15. THYNNIDAE 100
„ 16. SCOLIIDAE 102
„ 17. POMPILIDAE 105
„ 18. SPHEGIDAE 106
„ 19. EUMENIDAE 110
„ 20. VESPIDAE 112
„ 21. MASARIDAE 113
„ 22. APIDAE 114
Order V.--COLEOPTERA.
Family 1. CICINDELIDAE 124
„ 2. CARABIDAE 126
„ 3. DYTISCIDAE 133
„ 4. GYRINIDAE 134
„ 5. HYDROPHILIDAE 135
„ 6. STAPHYLINIDAE 136
„ 7. PSELAPHIDAE 138
„ 8. PAUSSIDAE 138
„ 9. SCYDMAENIDAE 139
„ 10. SILPHIDAE 140
„ 11. SCAPHIDIDAE 141
„ 12. HISTERIDAE 141
„ 13. PHALACRIDAE 142
„ 14. NITIDULIDAE 143
„ 15. TROGOSITIDAE 144
„ 16. COLYDIDAE 146
„ 17. RHYSODIDAE 146
„ 18. CUCUJIDAE 146
„ 19. CRYPTOPHAGIDAE 147
„ 20. LATHRIDIDAE 148
„ 21. MYCETOPHAGIDAE 148
„ 22. DERMESTIDAE 148
„ 23. BYRRHIDAE 150
„ 24. GEORYSSIDAE 150
„ 25. PARNIDAE 150
„ 26. HETEROCERIDAE 151
„ 27. LUCANIDAE 151
„ 28. SCARABAEIDAE 153
„ 29. BUPRESTIDAE 162
„ 30. EUCNEMIDAE 165
„ 31. ELATERIDAE 166
„ 32. RHIPIDOCERIDAE 167
„ 33. MALACODERMIDAE 167
„ 34. CLERIDAE 168
„ 35. PTINIDAE 169
„ 36. CIOIDAE 170
„ 37. BOSTRYCHIDAE 171
„ 38. TENEBRIONIDAE 172
„ 39. CISTELIDAE 175
„ 40. LAGRIIDAE 175
„ 41. ANTHICIDAE 176
„ 42. PYROCHROIDAE 176
„ 43. MORDELLIDAE 176
„ 44. CANTHARIDAE 177
„ 45. SCOLYTIDAE 178
„ 46. BRENTHIDAE 179
„ 47. ANTHRIBIDAE 180
„ 48. CURCULONIDAE 181
„ 49. CERAMBYCIDAE 190
„ 50. CHRYSOMELIDAE 200
„ 51. EROTYLIDAE 206
„ 52. COCCINELLIDAE 207
Order VI.--LEPIDOPTERA.
Sub-order.--RHOPALOCERA.
Family 1. NYMPHALIDAE 214
„ 2. LIBYTHEIDAE 219
„ 3. LYCAENIDAE 219
„ 4. PIERIDAE 223
„ 5. PAPILIONIDAE 225
„ 6. HESPERIDAE 227
Sub-order.--HETEROCERA.
Family 1. CASTNIIDAE 232
„ 2. URANIIDAE 232
„ 3. AGARISTIDAE 233
„ 4. SYNTOMIDAE 235
„ 5. ZYGAENIDAE 236
„ 6. SPHINGIDAE 236
„ 7. HEPIALIDAE 239
„ 8. PSYCHIDAE 243
„ 9. LIMACODIDAE 246
„ 10. ARCTIIDAE 248
„ 11. LIPARIDAE 252
„ 12. BOMBYCIDAE 255
„ 13. GEOMETRIDAE 259
„ 14. NOCTUIDAE 262
„ 15. PYRALIDAE 268
„ 16. TORTRICIDAE 274
„ 17. MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA 278
Order VII.--DIPTERA.
Family 1. CECIDOMYIDAE 285
„ 2. MYCETOPHILIDAE 287
„ 3. COLICIDAE 288
„ 4. CHIRONOMIDAE 291
„ 5. TIPULIDAE 292
„ 6. STRATIOMYIDAE 293
„ 7. TABANIDAE 294
„ 8. BOMBYLIDAE 296
„ 9. ACROCERIDAE 297
„ 10. MYDAIDAE 298
„ 11. ASILIDAE 298
„ 12. APIOCERIDAE 301
„ 13. PIPUNCULIDAE 301
„ 14. SYRPHIDAE 302
„ 15. CONOPIDAE 305
„ 16. MUSCIDAE ACALYPTERA 305
„ 17. ANTHOMYIDAE 311
„ 18. TACHINIDAE 312
„ 19. DEXIIDAE 313
„ 20. SARCOPHAGIDAE 314
„ 21. MUSCIDAE 315
„ 22. OESTRIDAE 317
„ 23. HIPPOBOSCIDAE 319
„ 24. PULICIDAE 321
Order VIII.--HEMIPTERA.
Family 1. PENTATOMIDAE 327
„ 2. COREIDAE 331
„ 3. LYGAEIDAE 333
„ 4. PYRRHOCORIDAE 335
„ 5. TINGIDAE 336
„ 6. ARADIDAE 337
„ 7. HYDROMETRIDAE 337
„ 8. REDUVIIDAE 338
„ 9. CIMICIDAE 341
„ 10. CAPSIDAE 341
„ 11. CRYPTOCERATA 342
„ 12. BELOSTOMIDAE 343
„ 13. NOTONECTIDAE 344
„ 14. CORIXIDAE 345
Sub-order.--HOMOPTERA.
Family 1. CICADIDAE 346
„ 2. CERCOPIDAE 354
„ 3. MEMBRACIDAE 356
„ 4. FULGORIDAE 358
„ 5. JASSIDAE 360
„ 6. PSYLLIDAE 361
„ 7. APHIDAE 367
„ 8. ALEURODIDAE 370
„ 9. COCCIDAE 371
Sub-order.--ANOPLURA.
Family 1. PEDICULIDAE 388
Sub-order.--MALLOPHAGA.
Family 1. TRICHODECTIDAE 390
„ 2. PHILOPTERIDAE 390
„ 3. GYROPIDAE 390
„ 4. LIOTHEIDAE 390
Order IX.--THYSANOPTERA.
Family 1. THRIPIDAE 392
LIST OF PLATES.
FACING
PLATE. PAGE
I. COCKROACHES 17
II. WHITE ANTS 22
III. NESTS OF WHITE ANTS 24
IV. „ „ „ 28
V. LEAF INSECTS 35
VI. LONG-HORNED GRASSHOPPERS 46
VII. CRICKETS 48
VIII. DRAGON FLIES 51
IX. ANT LIONS 57
X. SAW FLIES 71
XI. „ „ 73
XII. FIG INSECTS 78
XIII. ICHNEUMON, SAND, AND FLOWER WASPS 89
XIV. ANTS 95
XV. NESTS OF WASPS 112
XVI. BEES AND WASPS 118
XVII. BEETLES 151
XVIII. FLOWER BEETLES 163
XIX. WHITE BUTTERFLIES 214
XX. MISCELLANEOUS BUTTERFLIES 220
XXI. „ „ 227
XXII. „ MOTHS 235
XXIII. GREAT SWIFT MOTH 241
XXIV. BAG SHELTER MOTHS 245
XXV. CASE MOTHS 253
XXVI. MISCELLANEOUS MOTHS 268
XXVII. MOSQUITOES 289
XXVIII. FLIES 299
XXIX. HOUSE FLIES 314
XXX. BLOW FLIES 316
XXXI. PLANT BUGS 327
XXXII. „ „ 336
XXXIII. CICADAS 346
XXXIV. GALLS OF COCCIDS AND BEETLES 374
XXXV. GALLS OF COCCIDS 380
XXXVI. LAC INSECTS 378
XXXVII. THRIP INSECTS 393
INTRODUCTION.
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 1.=--_Lepisma saccharina_
(Linn.).
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 2.=--Mouth Parts of a Grasshopper,
Showing the different parts.
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 3.=--_Labidura truncata_
(Kirby).
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_.
[Illustration: =Fig. 4.=--_Anisolabis colossea_
(Dohrn).
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.
[Illustration: Plate I.--ORTHOPTERA.
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.).]
[Illustration: _Plate I.--ORTHOPTERA._]
_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.