1. _Nymphes myrmeleonides_ (Leach).
7. _Porismus strigatus_ (Burm.).
Family MYRMELEONIDAE.
2. _Glenurus erythrocephalus_ (Leach).
4. _Glenurus falsus_ (Walker).
5. _Glenurus circuiter_ (Walker).
6. _Glenurus pulchellus_ (Kirby).
Family MANTISPIDAE.
3. _Mantispa strigodes_ (Westwood).
(Original photo. Burton.)]
[Illustration: _Plate IX.--NEUROPTERA._]
Family 6. Ant-lions and Lace-wings.
HEMEROBIIDAE.
This interesting division of the Neuroptera comprises a number of
smaller groups, ranked by some entomologists as families, but now
generally regarded as sub-families. Westwood divided them into two
families, the first containing the true ant-lions; both Kirby and Sharp
treat them as one, but the latter places them in seven well defined
sub-families.
They come naturally together from the fact that all the larvae are
provided with large, curved, hollow, sucking jaws, and are carnivorous
in their habits, while the perfect insects have simple biting jaws.
They all have, in the perfect state, long slender bodies, provided with
two pairs of finely reticulated wings, folded over each other when at
rest; the head is short, with large projecting eyes; ocelli generally
wanting; and the antennae are composed of many short annular joints.
The MYRMELEONIDES are the true ant-lions, whose larvae in many species
construct funnel shaped pits in soft sandy soil an inch or two in
depth, at the bottom of which, buried in the loose soil, with only
the tip of their large jaws visible, they lie in wait for any ant or
other small insect that may happen to slip over the edge and tumble to
the bottom, where it is immediately seized in the ant-lion’s powerful
jaws and devoured; when however, as often happens, the trapped visitor
manages to regain its footing and nearly succeeds in clambering out,
the ant-lion presses its head downward like a spade and throws a
quantity of sand right at its prey, generally bringing its quarry
within reach again. It generally excavates its pit under the shelter
of a log or rock so that it is protected from the rain, and when full
grown pupates at the bottom of its shaft. The larva is a short thickset
little brown creature covered with tufts of short stout bristles; the
head is broad and rounded behind, attached to the heart-shaped body by
a neck-like thorax. They are easily captured by slipping a knife blade
under them and throwing them out when they are intent on catching a
struggling ant. In captivity they are easily kept in a saucer full of
sand, and have the power of going for weeks without food; when placed
on a smooth surface they always arch their heads and crawl backwards.
Most of our described species belong to the Genus _Glenurus_, all
slender elongated insects resting with their long narrow wings folded
over their backs against a twig or grass stem, and when disturbed
flitting away in a very awkward manner; they are very easily captured.
_Glenurus pulchellus_ is the commonest species about the coast, with a
wing expanse of about 2½ inches; its general colour is chocolate brown,
mottled and marbled with lighter tints; the fore wings are speckled
with black; the apical portion of the hind pair deeply blotched with
chestnut brown, encircling a white patch, with a second smaller one
nearer the extremity. _Glenurus falsus_ is a shade smaller; the fore
wings darker; and a single dark patch on the hind wings. _Glenurus
striola_ is a slightly larger species with semitransparent wings,
marked on the posterior margin of the hind pair with a narrow light
brown stripe. I found this species very plentiful in some swampy flats
near Brisbane, Q., in October, where they were resting on the rushes.
_Glenurus fundatus_ is our largest species, often measuring up to 4
inches across the wings, and is of a general uniform mottled grey tint
spotted with brown; it is common along the coast in North Queensland.
_Glenurus circuiter_ is easily recognised from all the others by the
shape of the fore wings, which are broadened to the tips, cut out
behind at the extremities, and both pairs are irregularly blotched and
spotted dark brown, giving it a very handsome appearance. _Glenurus
erythrocephalus_ has semitransparent wings, elongate and rounded at
the tips, the fore pair thickly covered with spots and blotches of
dark brown, the hind pair usually only marked with three spots, but
the spotting is very irregular and variable. It comes from the more
northern parts of N.S. Wales and Queensland.
* * * * *
The ASCALAPHIDES are all moderate-sized, clear-winged insects with a
stigma toward the tip, and curious long slender antennae clubbed at the
tips; they might be likened to dragon-flies with butterflies’ heads.
_Suphalasca sabulosa_ measures about 2½ inches across the wings; the
head and thorax are fringed with fine hairs, the stigma on the wings
black. It is generally found on bush land clinging to a grass stalk
or twig, with the wings folded down, and the slender body sticking
out at right angles. I have found the larvae living under the dry
bark attached to dead tree trunks, their short hairy bodies covered
with tufts of stout bristles, their large jaws pointing upward; and
from their situation they probably capture the large sugar ants. In
captivity they would remain for days resting against the side of the
box without any movement, and lived for several months without taking
any food, and finally formed a round cocoon.
The female places her eggs in a double row along the edge of a blade of
grass, and the young ones, when they hatch out, sit in the bottom of
the eggshell, all head and jaws, waiting for something to turn up, and
must often undergo long fasts.
_Stibopteryx costalis_ is a stout bodied insect with a wing
expanse of 3 inches, a large, dragon-fly-like head, and narrow rounded
wings banded with parallel bands of chocolate brown. It ranges from
Sydney right round Australia.
The NEMOPTERIDES are a very curious group of lace-wings, which have the
hind pair of wings produced into slender or clubbed appendages of most
peculiar form. Kirby (Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1900) has
listed all the known species from all parts of the world, 33 species in
7 genera.
_Chasmoptera hutti_, described by Westwood from Western Australia,
has a wing expanse of 1½ inches, and the hind pair are produced into
a spoon-shaped tail. _Croce attenuata_ is a smaller, dull coloured,
brown insect, with the fore wings like those of a mayfly, and the hind
pair forming a pair of antennae-like processes longer than the body.
It was taken by my correspondent, Mrs. Black, round a lamp, and comes
from North Queensland. It is described by me in the Proceedings of the
Linnean Society 1904.
The MANTISPIDES are lace-wings that in general form, imitate the
orthopterous mantis; with the same elongate neck, spined fore legs and
broad head, but the structure of the wings soon shows its affinity to
the lace-wings. We have some very fine species in Australia, which are
usually found hiding among the foliage of trees, and are generally
captured when beating the bush for beetles. Nothing is known about the
earlier stages of any of our species, but Brauer studied the larval
and pupal forms of the European _Mantispa_, and found that the eggs
were stalked; the larvae are long slender creatures with large jaws.
Westwood has figured and described a number of our species (Trans. Ent.
Soc. 1852).
_Mantispa biseriata_, one of our largest species, measures up to 2½
inches across the outspread wings. Its general colour is dull reddish
brown; the wings are mottled with very fine black dots, and the stigma
on the fore wing forms a dull red blotch. It has a wide range from
Victoria to North Queensland. _Mantispa strigipes_ is a smaller darker
species, with no distinct stigma but a stripe of dull red along the
front margin of both pairs of wings, thickest toward the extremities.
It ranges over Victoria and N.S. Wales.
The HEMEROBIIDES are well represented in Australia by some very
beautiful insects, which when at rest are recognised by the way in
which their wings are folded against each other, forming a ridge above
the back; the antennae, generally long, consist of a number of short
annular joints. The eggs are laid upon the food plant; the larvae feed
upon small insects.
[Illustration: =Fig. 32.=--_Croce attenuata_
(Froggatt). The Thread-winged Nemopteron.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)]
_Nymphes myrmeleonides_, described and figured by Leach in 1814, has
a somewhat robust body, long slender antennae and narrow head; the
wings, which have an expanse of 3 inches, are large, of equal size, and
semitransparent, except the tips, which are ornamented with an elongate
brownish blotch enclosing an irregular white spot in the centre. It is
a very ungainly insect when flying, with its large oar-shaped shining
wings; it has a very wide range along the eastern coast. The larvae
live under the shelter of logs hiding among the dust and dirt with only
their jaws projecting; specimens obtained near Armidale, N.S.W., lived
for some time in captivity, forming the usual spherical parchment-like
pupal case, from which the insect emerged about a month later.
[Illustration:
=Fig. 33.=--_Psychopsis illidgi_ (Froggatt). The
Painted Lace-wing.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)]
[Illustration:
=Fig. 34.=--_Psychopsis coelevagus_ (Walker). The
small Metallic Lace-wing.
(Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.)]
The Genus _Psychopsis_ was formed by Newman in 1840 (Newman’s
Entomologist p. 415) to contain the curious creamy white moth-like
insect _Psychopsis mimica_. It has broad rounded wings covered
with fine hairy veins shading from buff to grey or creamy white,
spotted with red on the base of the fore wings and a dull brown spot
on the centre of the hind pair; the head is turned down in front when
resting. It measures about 1½ inches across the outspread wings and
is found from South Australia to Queensland. I figured and described
all our known species (Notes on the Genus Psychopsis Newman, with
descriptions of new species) in the Proceedings of the Linnean
Society N.S.W. 1903, where I added two new species. _Psychopsis
coelivagus_ is our smallest species, measuring 1 inch across the
outspread wings, which are creamy white thickly mottled with a central
band of metallic coppery brown; it comes from S. Queensland.
_Psychopsis illidgi_ is one of the most remarkable looking of all
our Neuroptera, with its large rounded buff fore wings with confluent
ochreous yellow markings crossing them, and the usual dull spot in
the centre of the smaller hind wings. It measures about 2¾ inches
across the wings, and is a rare insect. Illidge has taken several
specimens that came flying in to the light at night on the top of Mount
Tambourina in South Queensland.
[Illustration:
=Fig. 35.=--Larva of _Psychopsis mimica_ (Newman).
Bred from the egg (much enlarged). (Original W.W.F.)]
_Psychopsis insolens_ and _P. meyricki_ are both dull coloured smaller
insects, the first found about Sydney and Brisbane, the latter on the
top of Mount Kosciusko, resting on the rocks.
The eggs are not stalked but are attached to the food plant; the young
elongated larva, furnished with stout projecting jaws, crawls upon the
foliage and feeds upon aphids. This Genus was considered peculiar to
Australia, until in the last few years two species have been described
from Africa and a third from Burmah.
The curious black mottled lace-wing, _Porismus strigatus_, has a
narrow red head furnished with long slender antennae and large rounded
eyes; the front portion of the thorax forms a regular neck. The narrow
elongate black wings, blotched and tipped with pale yellow shading into
white, are folded over the back forming a ridge when at rest on a tree
trunk. They are sometimes met with about Sydney, and are common in New
England toward the end of summer. I found larvae and eggs under logs in
that district which I believe to be those of this insect; the former
were stalked and deposited in a narrow semicircle attached to each
other; the larvae, of the usual tick-shaped form, covered themselves
over with bits of burnt ashes, and clung to the surface of the log,
where they easily escaped notice with their protective covering.
[Illustration:
=Fig. 36.=--Larva of _Porismus strigatus_ (Bohem).
The adult Lace-wing is shown in Plate VI., Fig. 7.
(Original W.W.F.)]
The Genus _Osmylus_ contains a number of slender insects with longer,
semitransparent, spotted, brown wings, and fine antennae clothed with
short hairs. The larvae, active little creatures, feed about among
the leaves destroying aphids. _Osmylus tenui_ measures about 1¼ inches
across the outspread wings, is of the usual dull brown tint, and is
found in Victoria.
In the Genus _Drepanopteryx_ the fore wings are short, broad, rounded
in front at the shoulders, and arcuate on the hind margin; the hind
pair are rounded, semitransparent, with a darker costal margin; when
resting upon a twig they tuck the head down under the thorax, and turn
the wings upward, almost standing on their heads; they could be easily
passed over from their resemblance to a brown leaf.
_Drepanopteryx binocula_ and _D. instabilis_ are found in N.S. Wales
and Victoria; the first has dark fore wings and measures about ¾ of an
inch; the second is somewhat smaller and lighter coloured.
[Illustration: Fig. 37.
Fig. 38.
=Figs. 37 and 38.=--Life History of the Brown Lace-wing.
37.--_Micromus Australis_ (Froggatt).
38.--Larva.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
The CHRYSOPHIDES comprise the lace wings known as “Ruby Eyes” from
their rich metallic tint, or “Aphis Lions” on account of the voracious
habits of their larvae. They hide among the foliage in the day time,
and in summer often come buzzing round the lamp, several species
giving out a most objectionable smell when handled. They are generally
slender-bodied green or yellow insects with large delicate glassy
wings, folded over the back. They attach their eggs to the foliage on
long slender stalks, probably a means of protection against other
larvae that might otherwise find and devour them. The larvae are active
little creatures with large heads furnished with scythe-shaped jaws;
their rounded backs are covered with short stiff hairs, by means of
which they hold bits of dirt, sand, or wood, with which they cover
themselves when feeding upon the aphids or scale. If when in captivity
these bits are brushed off they run round and replace them bit by bit;
pushing the bits into the jaws with their fore legs, then turning their
heads backward, they drop each bit upon their backs, repeating the
operation until they are again completely covered. When full-grown they
spin a white hemispherical cocoon composed of fine white threads and
the longer hairs of the body, from which in summer the perfect insects
will emerge in a fortnight.
[Illustration: =Fig. 39.=--_Chrysopa ramburi_
(Schiner). The Green Golden Eye.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
[Illustration: =Fig. 40.=--Life history of _Chrysopa
ramburi_ (Schiner).
Larva; stalked egg; and pupa enclosed in hemispherical cocoon
covered with the remains of the aphis upon which it has fed
during the larval stage.]
The Green Lace Wing, _Chrysopa ramburi_, is our common orchard friend;
and where plentiful they soon clean the trees of aphid and scale
insects. Its general colour is bright green fading into yellow after
death; the large golden eyes are so bright that they can be seen
through the cocoon some time before it emerges. The Brown Lace Wing,
_Micromus australis_, is common among dead bushes, and also in summer
in orange orchards; it is much smaller than the last, only slightly
over ¼ of an inch across the expanded wings; is of a general light
brown colour mottled all over the wings with darker tints. The broad
head is furnished with large bronzy eyes, and slender hairy antennae
composed of 44 very short annular joints. Both the slender, brown,
ferret-like larvae and the perfect insects are very active little
creatures, always on the move. This species was described by me in the
Agricultural Gazette N.S. Wales, 1904.
Family 7. Caddis Flies.
TRICHOPTERA.
The larval forms of these interesting little creatures are common in
our creeks and water-holes, encased in their cocoons or sacks formed
of silken strands covered with bits of sticks, leaves, sand or small
stones; they may be often noticed floating on the surface or crawling
about under the water among the weeds and mud. These are protective
coverings, for though the head and front of the thorax, that are
projected in front when the larva is moving along, are hard and
leathery, the abdominal segments are covered with a thin integument,
and would soon fall a prey to the many carnivorous water insects in the
ponds if it were not for their case-bearing habits. These cases, unlike
those of the terrestrial case moths, are open at both ends, so that the
water can flow right through when the creature is crawling about.
They are known in England as “water moths,” or “caddis-flies,” and
are much sought for by anglers as bait for fly-fishing. The perfect
insects have two pairs of membranous wings with fewer cross veins
than other members of the Neuroptera; the hind pair are broadest and
folded when at rest; most of them are clothed with fine hairs instead
of scales. The head is small, with very long, slender, thread-like
antennae composed of many short indistinct joints, and the biting
mouth is rudimentary; the prothorax is short, with an elongate body
rounded at the extremity; and the legs are well developed, and more
or less provided with spines. The female deposits her eggs, enveloped
in a gelatinous mass, in the water, often carrying them about with
her attached to the tip of the abdomen for some time before they are
dropped.
Some of the smaller species are so wonderfully like small tinead moths,
that it takes an experienced eye, aided with a good lens, to pick them
out of a box when mixed up with small microlepidoptera; and from their
delicate form and small size most of my specimens have not been taken
as caddis-flies, but obtained from the leavings of insect boxes of moth
collectors.
Between the years 1874–80 McLachlan published his fine “Monograph of
the European Trichoptera,” illustrated with a great number of very fine
drawings; over 500 species are identified and described in this work.
According to Howard, about 150 species have been described from North
America.
McLachlan treats them as an Order in his work, dividing them into a
number of families, chiefly based upon the number of spines on the
legs, the joints of the palpi, and the ocelli.
Judging from my own collection of caddis-flies I should think that
Australia is rich in species, but they are a much neglected family
and I do not know of a single named specimen in any of our Museum
collections.
In the British Museum Catalogue of Neuroptera published in 1852, Walker
gives only four species from Tasmania and Australia: _Leptocerus
magnus_ and _L. oppositus_, which he describes from Tasmania, and
_Plectrotarsus gravenhorsti_, described by Koller from Australia; the
latter measures nearly an inch across the wings, and ⅓ of an inch in
the body, and is of a general yellow tint, thickly clothed with yellow
and black hairs; the fore wings are bluish black marked with white,
yellow at the base and along the fore border; the hind wings are yellow
but blackish toward the tips.
_Monopseudopsis inscriptus_, described by Walker, is a larger fly, of
a general black colour, with pale wings spotted with yellow, the hind
pair clouded. The locality of this species is given as Australia.
Order IV.--HYMENOPTERA.
Bees, Ants and Wasps.
This division contains an immense number of very interesting insects
which, though generally known as bees, ants, and wasps, comprise many
other just as important families; some are unfortunately popularly
called flies, such as saw-flies, gall-flies, and ichneumon-flies, but
all true flies have only one pair of wings. Hymenoptera are, with a
few exceptions, furnished with two pairs of semitransparent membranous
wings, sometimes shaded with black or yellow tints, devoid of hairs or
scales, but traversed by stout nervures forming irregular cells; the
hind pair are the smaller, and are furnished with a row of spines along
the front margin capable of hooking into the hind edge of the fore
pair, thus adding to their powers of flight.
[Illustration: =Fig. 41.=--Diagram of the Head of a Wasp.
_a_, eyes; _b_, clypeus; _c_, labrum;
_d_, mandibles; _e_, ocelli; _f_, insertion of
the antennae.
(Redrawn from Cresson’s “Hymenoptera of North America.”)]
[Illustration: =Fig. 42.=--Diagram of the Thorax of a
Wasp.
_a_, prothorax; _b_, mesothorax; _c_,
scutellum; _d_, postscutellum; _e_, metathorax;
_f_, tegulae; _g_, parapsidal grooves.
(Cresson’s “Hymenoptera of N. America.”)]
In a few anomalous groups we find the females wingless, such as
_Thynnidae_, _Mutillidae_ and others; in some like the fig insects
_Blastophaginae_, the males are wingless and blind; in the ants, while
the males and females are winged, the bulk of the community consists of
wingless workers forming a third sex or caste.
[Illustration: =Fig. 43.=--Diagram of Fore-wing of a Bee
(_Mellinus_).
1, Costal cell; 2, median or externo-medial cell; 3,
sub-median cell; 4, anal cell; 5, marginal or radial cell;
6, first sub-marginal or cubital cell; 7, second s.-m. or
cubital cell; 8, third s.-m. or cubital cell; 9, fourth s.-m.
or cubital cell; 10, first discoidal cell; 11, second d.
cell; 12, third d. cell; 13, first apical cell; 14, second
a. cell. _a_, Costal nervure; _b_, sub-costal
nervure; _c_, externo-medial nervure; _d_, anal
nervure; _e_, marginal or radial nervure; _f_,
basal nervure; _g_, first transverso-cubital nervure;
_h_, second t.-c. nervure; _i_, third t.-c.
nervure; _j_, transverso-medial nervure; _k_,
discoidal nervure; _l_, cubital nervure; _m_,
first recurrent nervure; _n_, second r. nervure;
_o_, sub-discoidal nervure; _p_, stigma; _q_,
posterior margin; _r_, apical margin. (Cresson, “Hym. N.
America.”)]
These insects are furnished with well developed antennae; large
compound eyes, in some groups composed of an immense number of facets;
usually 3 simple eyes or ocelli, but these are sometimes wanting; a
more or less tubular mouth adapted for sucking up food (commonly called
the proboscis), though mandibles are always present. The thorax is
stout and broad; the three primary portions, prothorax, mesothorax and
metathorax, are distinct on the upper surface with well defined lateral
or ventral plates. The legs are generally large, with spined tibiae,
and slender tarsi terminating in a double claw or hook, but varying
much in size and shape in the different families. The abdomen takes
all kinds of remarkable forms, from the thickened sessile body of the
sawfly to the slender stalked abdomen of the sand-wasp, and the female
is furnished with an ovipositor, sting, or saw at the extremity.
The Hymenoptera are considered by naturalists to be one of the most
highly developed or specialised orders of insects, on account of the
social habits of some of the chief families, and the care they display
in providing for the safety and food supplies of their larvae.
They undergo a complete metamorphosis: from the egg is hatched out a
soft, generally legless larva which when full grown, if in a protected
cell, is simply enveloped in a thin skin, but otherwise forms a stout
silken or parchment-like cocoon; the larva usually takes a considerable
time to change into the pupa; the change is not rapid as that of a
butterfly.
Australia is very rich in hymenoptera; most of the typical families are
well represented, and we also have a few very distinct groups peculiar
to this country.