curious looking creature that it has been figured and noted by many
naturalists. Both sexes are of a uniform dull brown colour, but very
different in structure; the male measures 2 inches; has long pointed
elytra, and well developed wings; the head is small; the antennae
slender and thread-like; the eyes stand out on the side of the head,
and the thorax is saddle shaped. The female is furnished with a very
short, rounded body richly mottled with blue, white, and red, covered
with a pair of rounded, short, shell-like elytra, but the wings are
wanting. When disturbed she stands on tiptoes, arches her body, raises
her elytra exposing all the bright tints of her body, which probably
act as a warning to her enemies.
[Illustration: Plate VI.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family LOCUSTIDAE.
1. _Acridopeza reticulata_ (Guérin), ♀.
1_a_. _Acridopeza reticulata_ (Guérin), ♂.
1_b_. _Acridopeza reticulata_ (Guérin), eggs.
2. _Alectoria superba_ (Brunner).
3. _Ephippitytha_ 32-_guttata_ (Serv.).
4. _Pseudorhynchus lessonii_ (Serv.).]
[Illustration: _Plate VI.--ORTHOPTERA._]
Another remarkable grasshopper is _Alectoria superba_, found in
the dry western country among the grass; it is a long, slender, green
insect, measuring 2½ inches; the elytra and legs are richly mottled
with bright reddish brown; the thorax is produced into a large circular
crest edged with bright red, a large boss below on either side,
and another projecting above the head. The female has a very small
lance-like ovipositor. The Speckled Green Grasshopper, _Ephippitytha
32-guttata_, is about the same length as the last, of a somewhat
lighter green tint, and has the elytra mottled with a double row of
black spots varying from 32 to 44 in number. The head is small, the
thorax short and somewhat saddle-shaped. It is found about Sydney
on flowering shrubs; and there is a darker variety which has a wide
range over the interior, to which Tepper has given the name of _E.
quadrigesima-guttatus_. The Small Green Grasshopper, _Caedicia valida_,
is one of our dainty, slender, green species found in the gardens,
where it sometimes damages the young fruit by gnawing patches off the
skin, or nibbles holes in the foliage; it produces a sharp musical note
uttered three times in succession.
The Large Green Leaf Grasshopper, _Locusta vigentissima_, figured by
McCoy, is also found on low shrubs in the summer; it measures nearly 3
inches, and is of a uniform dull green colour, with the head, legs and
antennae more or less yellow: the head is broad; the thorax stout; the
legs long and spiny; the elytra long, tapering to the tips; the wings
large, semitransparent; the abdomen short, in the female furnished
with a long sabre-like ovipositor. The Lance-headed Grasshopper,
_Pseudorhynchus lessonii_, has a wide range along the eastern coast
among the long grass; it is green, with the tips of the elytra marked
with yellow; the wings are small, and the front of the head produced
into a lance-like point. Among the foliage of the eucalypts in Southern
Australia there is a very handsome large grasshopper with the head
small, the thorax very square, and the elytra very leaf-like in form;
it has a curious bloom upon it like that upon many of the gum leaves,
and is a very fine case of mimicry.
The Genus _Anostosoma_ comprises a number of reddish brown wingless
locusts more like crickets in many ways, for they live chiefly in
holes in the ground, have long thread-like antennae, and stout spiny
legs. _Anostosoma australasiae_ is a very formidable looking insect
with immense head and jaws, originally described from Moreton Bay;
it is sometimes found about Sydney, measuring 3 inches in length; it
has antennae over 4 inches long. The smaller species, _Anostosoma
erinaceus_, is of a similar colour and form, but not more than 1½
inches in length; it is not uncommon in gardens.
_Paragryllacris combusta_ lives in hiding during the day under a
curled leaf spathe of a palm frond, or in a cavity in a tree trunk;
if in the last it often forms a white tough substance of a net-like
structure over the front, and if disturbed will snap at a grass blade
or straw and shake the net, making a distinct sharp sound. It is of a
uniform, yellowish brown tint, measuring about 2 inches to the tip of
the large curled wings closely folded over the body.
The curious Cave Locust, _Pachyrhamma sp._, with its small oval body,
and long slender antennae and hind legs, is always found in caves. It
is a dull brown wingless creature, whose slender thread-like antennae
are many times longer than the body.
Family 10. Crickets.
GRYLLIDAE.
These are the black field and house crickets which are so well known by
their shrill note; this is caused by the insect rubbing the stout wing
covers or elytra together; those of the males have a distinct circular
wavy neuration forming distinct ridges for this purpose.
Crickets are easily distinguished by their slender thread-like
antennae, short rounded heads, black wings folded down the back, and
spiny hind legs adapted both for creeping through the grass or jumping
out of the road of their enemies. The abdomen is furnished with a
pair of slender spined appendages on the sides, and the female with a
stiletto-like ovipositor composed of two grooved pieces by which the
eggs are deposited in the ground.
We have a number of field crickets in this country; Walker in his
catalogue of the family gives 12 species, of which _Gryllus
servillei_ is our common field cricket, sometimes swarming out
in sufficient numbers to do a great deal of damage to field crops
and vegetable gardens. It is of a uniform black tint, with a short,
shining, round head; it measures about 1 inch in length, and has a wide
range over Australia. The Mole Cricket, _Gryllotalpa coarctata_,
is found all over the interior, forming underground tunnels in the
sand along the edges of watercourses; it was collected in the Horn
Expedition in Central Australia, and is also found about Sydney. It
is of the usual dull brown tint, with hooded thorax and spade-shaped
fore-legs. Another curious little black cricket is common about the
edges of watercourses, and when disturbed often jumps in and swims
about on the surface; it belongs to the Genus _Nemobius_, and is
only ⅙ of an inch in length.
[Illustration: Plate VII.--ORTHOPTERA.
Family GRYLLIDAE.
1. _Gryllus servillei_ (Sauss.).
1_a_. _Gryllus servillei_ (Sauss.). (Elytron ♀.)
2. _Gryllotalpa coarctata_ (Walk.).
3. _Pachyrhamma sp._
4. _Nemobius sp._
5. _Paragryllacris combusta_ (Germ.).
6. _Anostostoma erinaceus_ (Gray).]
[Illustration: _Plate VII.--ORTHOPTERA._]
Order III.--NEUROPTERA.
Lace-winged Insects.
After excising the families usually treated as _Pseudo-Neuroptera_
from this order, these insects can be defined as the “lace wings,”
furnished with two pairs of delicate gauzy wings reticulated with a
network of fine transverse and parallel veins forming a great number
of more or less irregular cells. The head is furnished, with a few
exceptions, with stout jaws adapted to their carnivorous habits; large
eyes; and antennae of many different forms, sometimes short, thickened,
or clubbed, but in others long, slender, and filiform. The legs, suited
to their clinging habits when at rest, are generally slender, and the
body more or less elongate.
Most of them undergo a complete metamorphosis; the active larvae are
furnished with large sucking or biting jaws; in the terrestrial forms
they live among foliage or on the ground, and feed upon aphids, mites,
ants, &c., and when full grown pupate in regular cocoons. While some of
the aquatic forms go through a pupal stage in cells in the mud or under
stones, others, like the dragon flies, have no true pupal form, simply
going through a series of moults, and changing from an aquatic life to
an aerial one by crawling out of the water and emerging from the pupal
case, leaving it attached to the water plant.
Sharp places the Neuroptera in eleven families, further divided up
into a number of sub-families under five tribes. In excising the
_Pseudo-Neuroptera_ seven families remain, though the _Hemerobiidae_
includes a number of sub-families that by some writers are ranked as
families.
The Neuroptera are represented in Australia by many very handsome
and curious insects, of which the dragon flies are probably the most
typical and well known.
Family 1. Stone-flies.
PERLIDAE.
The Stone-flies are not an extensive group, and though the European
and American forms have been studied, very little is known about our
species. In England several species are much prized by fishermen as
tempting bait for fly-fishing.
The perfect insects have oblong, flattened bodies of uniform width
to the tip of the abdomen, terminating in a pair of long slender
tails or setae. The head is long, provided with large prominent eyes,
three ocelli, slender thread-like antennae, and weak mouth parts; the
fore-wings are slightly longer than the hind ones, which are very
broad and folded down the middle when closed. They are generally found
about watercourses in early summer, and lay an immense number of eggs
(5,000 to 6,000 some authorities state are laid by each female); these
eggs are dropped on the surface of the water. The larvae are very like
the perfect insects except that they have no wings; they are active
carnivorous creatures living in the bottom of swift running streams,
crawling under the stones, and feeding chiefly on the larvae of
mayflies.
Only four or five species have been described from Australia; I had
a number of specimens sent me from Hobart, Tasmania, the larvae of
which were said to be damaging the woodwork down a well. It has been
identified as _Eusthenia spectabilis_. This insect was named by
Westwood, and is figured in Griffith’s “Animal Kingdom,” (page 348,
plate 72). It measures about 2 inches across the outspread wings; its
general colour is dark brown, with the fore wings lighter, mottled with
brown at the base and the lower half dull red; the hind pair brighter
red with the tips blackish. The head is flattened, with long slender
many jointed antennae tapering to the tips. The thorax is slender,
flattened on the upper surface; the legs stout; and the tip of the
abdomen bears two slender jointed tails (setae). This insect is also
found in Australia. A second species, _Eusthenia thalia_, is described
from Tasmania by Newman; I have one from Gippsland Victoria probably a
new species. Several species have been described by Walker (Brit. Mus.
Catalogue, Neuroptera 1852) in the typical Genus _Perla_ from Tasmania.
Members of the Genus _Cupnia_ are often found upon the snow in Northern
Europe.
[Illustration: Plate VIII.--NEUROPTERA.
Family ODONATA.
1. _Tramea loewii_ (Brauer).
2. _Synlestes weyersii_ (Selys).
3. _Ischnura delicata_ (Selys).
4. _Rhyothemis graphiptera_ (Ramb.).
5. _Orthetrum nigrifrons_ (Kirby).
6. _Diplacodes (Diplax) bipunctata_ (Brauer).
Family SIALIDAE.
7. _Chaulcodes guttatus_ (Walk.).
(Original photo. Burton.)]
[Illustration: _Plate VIII.--NEUROPTERA._]
Family 2. Dragon Flies.
ODONATA.
Everyone has noticed dragon flies that sail and dart about over swamps
and rivers, the embodiment of grace and beauty in flying creatures. In
England and Australia they are popularly known as “horse-stingers,” a
very misleading name, for they cannot sting, and if they frequent the
vicinity of horses it is for the sake of the flies or gnats they can
capture. In America the country folk know them under the still more
peculiar name of “Devil’s Darning Needles,” while the French children,
who recognise their beauty and dainty form, call them “demoiselles.”
Westwood places the dragon flies in the family _Libellulidae_; but both
Kirby and Sharp call them _Odonata_; the former again divides them into
the _Libellulidae_ and the _Agrionidae_, and the latter subdivides them
into groups with the same characters, namely the _Anisopteridae_ and
_Zygopteridae_.
The members of the first group are those with the hind pair of wings
slightly larger than the front pair, and the second with wings of equal
size or the hind pair smaller. Specialists have further subdivided them
into seven smaller sub-families containing about 300 genera.
Dragon flies are widely distributed over the world, but are most
plentiful in the warmer zones; about 2,000 have been described from all
parts of the world, of which 107 species are recorded from Australia;
but as Billinghurst was able to collect 41 species in one circumscribed
district in Victoria (Victorian Naturalist No. 1, 1900), systematic
collecting would certainly add many more to our list.
In the early stages of their life dragon flies are aquatic; the female
deposits her eggs on the foliage of water plants, sometimes dipping
into the water to be sure they are submerged. The slender larvae with
wing pads in place of the future wings have somewhat the form of the
adults, and are carnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of smaller water
insects.
The dragon flies form a very distinct division of the Neuroptera; every
organ is beautifully adapted for their aerial life, their immense eyes
giving them an outlook on all sides, while the slender cylindrical
body does not impede their flight; and the great oar-shaped wings
strengthened with many stout nervures enable them to twist and turn in
the air with wonderful ease and rapidity.
The LIBELLULIDAE are thick-bodied dragon flies of medium size, and
comprise a number of fine species. The larvae are short broad
creatures with wide heads; they live in the mud on the bottom of ponds.
_Rhyothemus graphiptera_ belongs to a genus containing over 30 species
ranging from Africa to China, and the Eastern Archipelago to the New
Hebrides. It measures 2½ inches across the wings, which are yellowish
brown, beautifully mottled with darker tints; the front pair are
blotched at the base, a slender stripe in front running into the first
of 2 irregular transverse bands about the centre and tip; in the hind
pair the two apical bands have basal markings consisting of three small
irregular blotches: it is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales.
[Illustration: =Fig. 31.=--Diagram of a Dragon Fly.
_a_, antenna; _ar_, arculus; _b.s_, basilar
space; _c_, costal nervure; _s.c_, sub-costal
nervure; _e_, eye; _f_, front; _m_, median
nervure (or radius); _s.m_, sub-median; _m.s_,
median sector; _m_, membranule; _n_, nodus;
_n.s_, nodal sector; _o_, occiput; _p_,
pterostigma; _p.s_, principal sector; _s.s_, short
sector; _s.t_, sector of triangle; _t_, triangle;
_i.a_, inferior appendage; _s.a_, superior;
_a.n_, antenodals. The numerals refer to the segments of
the abdomen. (Original R. J. Tillyard.)]
The Genus _Diplax_ contains a number of more delicate, short-winged
insects, of which _Diplax rubra_, a typical form, is common both along
the rivers and in the open scrub, often quite a distance from water.
It is a moderate-sized dragon fly, tinted with pale yellow at the base
of the hind wings, and has a distinctive bright red body. _Diplacodes
(Diplax) bipunctata_ has much the same habits, and a wider range
over the country; it is common about Sydney, and is slightly smaller
than the previous species, and of a general yellow tint. _Orthetrum
nigrifrons_ is a more thickset dragon fly about 2 inches across the
wings; the head and front of thorax are black, with the hind portion of
the latter and body deep blue; it is a very distinctive species along
the watercourses and in the open bush. _Orthetrum villosovittatum_ is
a slightly larger form found in Southern Queensland, with slightly
clouded wings, blotched close to the body with yellowish brown: the
head and thorax are brown, and the body is red.
* * * * *
The AESCHNIDAE contain the giants among the dragon flies: _Petalura
gigantea_ is our largest species, and varies much in different
localities; most of ours on the Blue Mountains measure about 5 inches
across the wings, but Tillyard captured them at Cairns N.Q. 6½ inches.
It is a very robust insect of a dull brown tint, with a single, broad,
pale stripe on the sides of the large square thorax, and when viewed
from the side seems to have the abdomen attached to the under-side of
the thorax. The pterastigma of the wing is long.
_Hemianax papuensis_ is typical of one of our large species, often
flying in numbers about Sydney hawking for gnats high up in the air
before a storm. It measures 4 inches across the wings, which have a
slight smoky tint.
_Aeschna brevistyla_ is about the same size as the previous species,
but the wings are clear, and the abdominal segments are marked with two
angulated white blotches, one on either side of the dorsal stripe. The
larvae are curious, elongate, oval creatures, with large heads, living
in the mud at the bottom of stagnant ponds and are common about Sydney.
* * * * *
The AGRIONIDAE are the delicate slender-bodied dragon flies with
oar-shaped wings, and narrow heads with the eyes standing out on either
side. _Lestes analis_ is our common type of the large genus; it is of
the usual slender form, with the body nearly as long as the expanse of
wings, and is of a general reddish brown colour. _Synlestes weyersii_
is a very beautiful slender creature nearly 3 inches across the wings,
and over 2 inches from the front of the head to the tip of the body.
It has transparent wings with an oval whitish pterastigma toward the
tips, and the whole head and body is deep rich metallic green. It flies
in a very graceful manner up and down the edges of the watercourses,
resting every now and then on a reed or overhanging twig, and is very
easily captured. _Ischnura heterosticta_ is our tiny, little, banded,
blue and brown dragon fly, with the female of a more sombre brown tint:
Tillyard has recorded two forms of females in this species, one taking
on the garb of the bright-coloured male.
_Ischnura delicata_, very similar in size and form, has the basal
two-thirds of the abdomen red and the apical portion blue. The larvae
of both these species are common in the ponds about Sydney in the early
summer. Tillyard (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1905) has recently added
three new species of the Genus _Austrogomphus_ collected in the Cairns
district N. Queensland.
Family 3. May-flies.
EPHEMERIDAE.
These delicate gauze-winged insects were named Ephemera from the old
idea that their life as perfect insects lasted only for a day; they
were born in the morning and died at the fall of day. Though their span
of life is short, as they possess only rudimentary mouths incapable of
absorbing food, and only live a short time after the eggs are laid, it
is generally a matter of a few days.
They have large prominent eyes; three ocelli; and minute antennae
consisting of two thickened joints surmounted with a needle-like hair
or bristle: the prothorax is small, the middle portion large; and the
somewhat small body, generally composed of ten segments, is provided
with a slender articulated hair-like tail on either side. The wings are
broadest at the base, rounded at the extremities, with the hind pair
small, in some genera the hind pair absent. The larvae live in burrows
in the mud at the bottom of ponds or watercourses, and when full grown
climb up the stalks of grass or plants and cast their pupal coverings.
Most of our species are only found in odd pairs, and do not assemble
in swarms as they sometimes do in England; but in 1885, in the Royal
Geographical Society’s Exploring Expedition in New Guinea, when
ascending the Fly River we met with great clouds of the large white
Mayfly, _Palingenia papuana_, flying along over the surface of the
water just as described by D’Albertis in his work on New Guinea;
specimens I collected are now in the Australian Museum.
The commonest species about Sydney is _Atalophlebia australasica_, a
small chocolate brown insect marked with black; the wings are vitreous
with black markings on the veins, the front margin tinged with umber
brown on the cross veins. It was described by Pictet in his “Natural
History Neuroptera” (1843–45): Walker has described another from
Tasmania: Eaton three more from different parts of the mainland: and
Burmeister one in his “Handbook of Entomology” as far back as 1839.
The members of this genus have a wide range from South America through
Africa, Japan, and Ceylon. A single species of the Genus _Coloburiscus_
has been described from Melbourne.
The chief work on these insects is Eaton’s “Revisional Monograph of
Recent Ephemeridae or May-flies,” Parts I.-V. (Transactions of the
Linnean Society 1883–87;) in this work he subdivides them into three
groups containing 55 genera and 270 species.
Family 4. Alder Flies and Snake Flies.
SIALIDAE:
This small division contains two groups that Westwood treated as two
distinct families, the _Sialidae_ and the _Raphidae_; but Sharp points
out, that in general structure and habits they are very closely related
to each other,--the latter chiefly differing from the former in the
remarkable elongation of the prothorax, and he thus only ranks them as
sub-families.
The Alder Flies have two pairs of broad wings, wide at the base, the
hind pair slightly smaller and capable of being folded behind; they
are all traversed by numerous veins forming irregular cells. They
are slow in their movements, and are to be found clinging to bushes
in the vicinity of water. Our commonest species is the _Chauliodes
guttatus_, described by Walker; it is a large, dull brown insect
with an elongated thorax and body; the head is furnished with long,
slender, annulated antennae, large prominent eyes on the sides, and
three ocelli on the summit. The wings are semiopaque, the fore pair
finely spotted with black, thickest on the front margin; the broader
hind pair are only lightly spotted at the extreme tip, with from 4 to 5
larger rounded spots about the centre. It measures over 3 inches across
the outspread wings, and 1¼ inches from the head to the tip of the
abdomen; it has a wide range from Victoria to Queensland.
The larvae are remarkable for having fringed filaments on the sides
of the abdomen; they crawl about in the mud or among the weeds in
water-holes, and are carnivorous, feeding upon other aquatic insects;
when ready to transform, the pupae come out of the water and crawl
under stones, or sometimes under the loose bark on tree trunks.
The Snake Flies are curious looking creatures with elongated necks, and
the female is provided with a very curious, long, curved ovipositor.
They are found under bark on tree trunks, both in the perfect and
larval state; they are unknown in Australia, but Howard states that an
attempt was made some years ago to send living _Raphidians_ from
California to destroy codlin moth grubs, but that nothing has been
heard of them since.
Family 5. Scorpion Flies.
PANORPIDAE.
These insects have the head turned down in front with the mouth parts
forming an elongate beak; large projecting eyes; and slender antennae.
The prothorax forms a slender neck to the larger mesothorax; the
wings are narrow and somewhat oar-shaped, traversed with a network of
veins; the legs are long and slender, except the hind pair, which are
thickened on the thighs and stoutly spined; the tarsi are large and
coated with a sticky membrane, which assists it in catching flies.
At first sight many of them might be taken for crane-flies of somewhat
clumsy build; in the European _Panorpa_ the males are furnished with
a peculiar anal appendage from which they take the popular name of
Scorpion Flies. Members of the Genus _Boreus_ are wingless and resemble
tiny grasshoppers; in America they are often found on snow. The family
is represented in Australia by _Bittacus australis_, which has a wide
range from Tasmania to Queensland, and is very abundant in the early
summer, hanging about the leptospermum and ti-tree bushes. It rests
among the foliage, with the large hind legs hanging loosely down below
but ready to strike out the moment an incautious fly comes within
range. The long flexible tarsi fold round the captive with the stout
spines transfixing it, while the Bitticus draws its leg round under
the head so that it can press its sharp beak into the victim and suck
up its blood. Its general colour is reddish brown marked with black;
the wings are clouded, narrow, rounded at the tips, and reticulated
with fine nervures. Nothing is known about the earlier stages in the
life-history of this insect, but specimens in captivity laid a number
of flattened bun-shaped eggs which did not hatch out.
[Illustration: Plate IX.--NEUROPTERA.