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.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 7.=--_Mastotermes
darwiniensis_ (Froggatt).
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 8.=--Diagram of head of
worker termite. Dorsal view, showing the jaws and mouth
parts. _Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus_ (Froggatt).
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
[Illustration: =Fig. 9.=--_Coptotermes (Termes)
lacteus_ (Froggatt). Fully developed female or Queen.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
[Illustration: Plate II.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family _Termitidae_.
_Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus_ (Froggatt).
1. Male (wings closed).
2. Male (wings expanded).
3. Worker.
4. Nymph.
5. Soldier.]
[Illustration: _Plate II.--ORTHOPTERA._]
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 10.=--Queen Termite (_C. (Termes)
lacteus_) (Froggatt). Showing her in the Royal Cell or
Queen’s Chamber.
(“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.
[Illustration: Plate III.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family TERMITIDAE.
Termitarium of the Meridonial White Ant, _Termes
meridionalis_ (Froggatt).
“The Magnetic Nest,” Palmerston, Port Darwin, N. Australia.
(Original photo. N. Holtz.)]
[Illustration: _Plate III.--ORTHOPTERA._]
* * * * *
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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 11.=--Typical Domed Termitarium
or “White Ants’ Nest” from the coastal districts of New
South Wales. Formed by _Coptotermes (Termes) lacteus_
(Froggatt). (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
[Illustration:
=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.
[Illustration: =Fig. 13.=--Nest of White Ant
(_Eutermes fumipennis_) (Walker), upon the summit of
a rock where a small stump had been situated. Manly, near
Sydney, N.S.W.
(Original photo. W.W.F.)]
The members of the genus _Eutermes_ are common all over Australia; they
construct hard woody nests seldom more than a foot or two high; though
at the same time, the largest known termitarium is also built by one
species, _Eutermes pyriformis_, pillar shaped and often 18 feet in
height, probably in the first instance commenced over a dead tree trunk.
The soldiers are very curious looking creatures; the peculiar oval or
rounded heads produced into an awl-like point in front, the centre
being filled with a clear honey-like fluid; this is discharged down the
projecting snout and smothers their enemies, because they have no true
jaws above the mouth: most of them are much darker brown insects than
the other termites. The two species, _Eutermes fumigatus_, the darker,
smaller species, and _E. fumipennis_, the lighter tinted, are common in
the vicinity of Sydney.
[Illustration:
=Fig. 14.=--Typical nest, of the Spinifex termite
(_Eutermes triodiae_) (Froggatt), about 14 feet high.
Hall’s Creek, Kimberley, W.A. (Original photo. Mansbridge.)]
Family 4. Web-spinners.
EMBIIDAE.
These rare and curious little chocolate brown creatures are elongate in
form, not unlike a slender adult termite after it has shed its wings,
and they form another group that has puzzled entomologists in regard to
their classification. Only twenty species are known from all parts of
the world; but from their affinities to prehistoric insects they have
been carefully studied. Grassi worked at the life-history of a species
found in Southern Europe under stones: Wood-Mason has figured and
described Indian forms and placed them in the Orthoptera: Perkins says
that the species in Hawaii is common on tree trunks where they conceal
themselves under a fine web like spiders.
[Illustration: Plate IV.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family TERMITIDAE.
Termitarium of the Great Mound-nest White Ant, _Eutermes
pyriformis_ (Froggatt).
Palmerston, Port Darwin, N. Australia.
(Original photo. N. Holtz.)]
[Illustration: _Plate IV.--ORTHOPTERA._]
[Illustration:
=Fig. 15.=--_Oligotoma gurneyi_ (Froggatt). The
web spinning embiid. With a diagram showing the primitive
structure of wing. (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)]
They measure up to about ½ an inch in length; are elongate in form
with large globular heads, small toothed jaws, and long, slender
antennae composed of 20 or more bead-shaped joints which they are
constantly moving when they run about. The thorax is formed of three
very elongated segments, so that each pair of legs is very wide
apart; and in the winged forms the slender oar-shaped wings with very
primitive nervures are so far from each other that they have quite
a comical look; the abdomen is short, cylindrical, composed of 10
segments, rounded at the tip, with large anal appendages (cerci). The
legs are curiously thickened, with the tarsi of the front pair shaped
somewhat like a weaver’s shuttle. Until last year they were unknown
in Australia, when I described two species (Proc. Linn. Soc. 1904);
the first _Oligotoma agilis_, is a wingless form, of which I found
two specimens while turning over granite boulders at Bomen near Wagga
N.S.W. The second, _Oligotoma gurneyi_, was obtained by Mr. Gurney in a
lighted room one evening in a suburb of Sydney; it had well developed
wings. Soon afterwards Mr. Steel had his attention called to what one
of the men in the Colonial Sugar Co.’s refinery at Pyrmont called a
“white fungus” under one of the windows. This Mr. Steel found to be
a mass of white web matted with excrement and full of slender brown
insects, which he collected into a bottle and handed to me. Though most
of them were mature, only a few showed regular wing pads, but otherwise
they appear to be _O. gurneyi_; in captivity they spun a great quantity
of delicate white web among which they hid, but when wet sugar was
placed on the cork they ate it readily.
Family 5. Book Lice.
PSOCIDAE.
These are very delicate little creatures that run about on moss grown
fences, tree trunks, among foliage, or hide in boxes, old baskets and
other litter. In some groups, while the larvae and pupae are wingless,
the perfect insects have two pairs of delicate wings with curious
curved transverse nervures and very few cross veins, so that the cells
are few. In other groups the perfect insects are wingless, or if
present, aborted and useless for flight. They are all furnished with
long slender antennae consisting of from 11 to 25 joints; the head is
large, rounded in front, with convex eyes, and three ocelli (wanting in
the wingless forms).
[Illustration:
=Fig. 16.=--_Philotarsus froggatti_ (Enderlein). A
typical specimen of the Psocidae found near Sydney, N.S.W.
(Redrawn from Enderlein’s figure,--W.W.F.)]
They can be collected into a small tube on fences or tree trunks, or
shaken into a net or umbrella; but they must be handled very gently,
and are best placed in dry tubes, and killed and mounted at home. Many
handsome species are found in Australia, and some probably have a wide
distribution, as they are easily introduced into a new country with
many kinds of produce. One dull winged species is very common on the
foliage of the orange trees, where it lays its metallic green eggs in
patches of 9 or 12 on the midrib of the leaf, covering them over with a
delicate white silken sheet.
A number of species were obtained in Australia by the Hungarian
entomologist L. Biro, collecting for the Royal Museum of Hungary,
chiefly captured in the neighbourhood of Sydney. In 1903 Dr. Enderlein
classified and described these (Die Copeognathen des Indo-Australischen
Faunengebietes), published in the Annals of the above Museum, and
illustrated with many fine drawings. In this monograph he divides the
family into 16 sub-families, 39 genera and 115 species, 15 of which are
described from Australia.
_Philotarsus froggatti_, a tiny creature 2⅓ millimetres in length, with
clear wings, is found on the Blue Mountains.
Family 6. Mantids.
MANTIDAE.
We have no exact popular name for these peculiar insects; some of the
bush children call them “Forest Ladies,” on account of the dainty form
and graceful motion of several of our smaller species, which is rather
appropriate; but unfortunately several lace-wings go under the same
fanciful name. In the United States the common species are called “Rear
Horses” from the way they stand at rest with raised fore legs. The
Romans called them “Soothsayers;” and at least two species are known
as “Praying Mantis,” namely _Mantis religiosa_ in Europe, and _Mantis
carolina_ in the United States, from their pious attitudes.
They are most numerous in tropical countries, and are well represented
in Australia; Westwood in his “Synopsis of the Species of Mantidae,”
published in 1889, records 624 described species, only 30 of which come
from this country. Kirby’s Catalogue (1904) brings the list up to about
843, and adds 5 more to our list of described species.