the females are clothed with a woolly secretion. _Ceronema banksiae_ is
a somewhat rare scale found on the foliage of the banksia; it has the
secretion upon the dorsal surface, formed into a distinct rib down the
centre. _C. caudata_ is a large species with a white woolly covering, a
large filament towards the apex forming a large loop rising above the
back like a handle. It has a wide range from the South Coast of N.S.W.
to North Queensland, and about Bulli, N.S.W., is found on gum trees.
The Genus _Lecanium_ (which has been cut up into a number of new
genera) contains many distinct species peculiar to our fauna. _Lecanium
tesselatum_, a flattened species with crenulated margins, and common
on palms in the gardens, and _L. oleae_, known as “black bug” or
“olive scale” by the orchardists, are both introduced species: _L.
patersoni_ is a slender form found upon the foliage of _Patersonia
glabrata_ growing about Sydney. _L. scrobiculata_ is a bright, shining,
convex, dark brown scale infesting several species of acacias; and _L.
mirificum_, one of the largest, is found in the interior upon _Acacia
pendula_. The curious coccid, _Cryptes (Lecanium) baccatum_, covers the
twigs of several acacias, among them the common black wattle in the
vicinity of Sydney. At first dull white, they swell out into rounded
bead-shaped, blue sacks, so close together that they encrust the whole
of the infested twig; when adult they turn dull brown.
The Sub-family DACTYLOPINAE contains most of the well-known “mealy
bugs”; they are soft bodied creatures in the earlier stages of their
existence, and many species are able to move about until their latter
days; instead of forming a separate scale like the first group, they
cover themselves with white, woolly, mealy, cottony, or waxy secretions.
The members of the Genus _Asterolecanium_ are represented in Australia
by the introduced “oak scale” _Asterolecanium quercicola_, a typical
form which, half buried in the infested bark at the tips of the
branches, is covered with a waxy, greenish yellow, rounded scale; when
numerous it causes the tips of the branches to die back. _A. acaciae_,
when numerous, aborts the bark and twigs of _Acacia longifolia_ and is
covered with dull brown and white shields; and with _A. stypheliae_,
with its raised, shining, oval, bright yellow tests, found on a number
of different shrubs, are both native species with a very wide range
over Australia.
The Genus _Rhizococcus_ is represented by 8 species, found chiefly
upon the twigs of wattles (_Acacia_) and she-oaks (_Casuarina_); and
the cosmopolitan Genus _Eriococcus_ by 17 species. Several species of
_Eriococcus_ enclosed in their egg-shaped, white-felted sacks are very
common in the forest, clustering over and often killing the young
trees. _Eriococcus coriaceous_ varies from white to yellow in colour;
the sacs are oval, with a distinct anal opening on the summit; they
infest the foliage and twigs of many young Eucalypts. _E. paradoxus_
is a somewhat larger, sticky insect; they mass together in regular
lumps on the twigs of the same trees: while _E. eucalypti_, as far as
my experience goes, is never found on gum trees, as its name implies,
but upon the prickly twigs of _Bursaria spinosa_, and its sacs are more
depressed and have a browner tint.
[Illustration: =Fig. 167.=--_Eriococcus coriaceous_
(Maskell).
The Eucalyptus scale. Natural size and enlarged.
(Original photo. T. Kirk).]
The typical _Dactylopius_ are free-moving insects, often crawling
about until their final stage, when they become covered or surrounded
with flocculent woolly matter. _Dactylopius albizziae_ is common on
the black wattle, and is sometimes a pest in wattle plantations; it
is a blackish-blue berry-shaped coccid surrounded with and lightly
clothed on portions of the dorsal surface with white mealy and woolly
filaments. _D. aurilanatus_ is chiefly confined to the branchlets of
_Araucaria bidwilli_, or “Bunya Bunya.” It is very abundant at times
on these trees in the Sydney gardens, and is easily recognised by the
broad lines of sulphur-yellow meal or down across the dorsal surface.
_D. lobulatus_ is an oval coccid, hiding under loose bark on the trunks
of the blue gum, _Eucalyptus globulus_; it is so thickly clothed with
white mealy secretion forming filaments round the edges that its form
and colour are quite hidden.
In the Genus _Ripersia_ the species have a world-wide range; they
are curious wrinkled naked coccids, but are sometimes more or less
enveloped in a white covering; they lead an underground existence
on the roots of grass and plants: a single species is recorded by
Maskell from S. Australia on the roots of a _Leptospermum_. The curious
_Antonina australis_ is an underground coccid which infests the roots
of the Nut-grass, _Cyperus rotundus_, and was described by Green (Pro.
Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1904) from specimens obtained in the Hunter River
district, N.S.W., where it was so plentiful that in the dry seasons it
killed a great deal of this sedge. The adult female is a rounded black
smooth shining creature about ⅛ of an inch in diameter, enveloped in a
coat of white woolly secretion, from which it can be easily removed.
The legs and antennae are aborted, but the segmental divisions of the
abdomen remain, and the tip is produced into two irregular roughened
tubercles, joined at the base with a tuft of stout bristle-like hairs.
[Illustration: Plate XXXVI.--HOMOPTERA.
Family COCCIDAE.
1. _Tachardia australis_ (Froggatt). On Melaleuca.
2. _Tachardia australis_ (Froggatt). Male and female
tests.
3. _Tachardia australis_ (Froggatt). Female coccid.
4. _Tachardia decorella_ (Maskell). On Eucalyptus.
5. _Tachardia decorella_ (Maskell). Female in test.
6. _Tachardia decorella_ (Maskell). Female exposed.
7. _Tachardia decorella_ (Maskell). Larva.]
[Illustration: _Plate XXXVI.--HOMOPTERA._]
The Sub-family TACHARDIINAE contains a number of remarkable species,
some of considerable commercial value on account of the resinous
secretion they encrust themselves with; this secretion is known as lac,
and is used for making varnish. The typical female is an irregular
wrinkled fleshy mass with a pair of tubular appendages on the back.
These appendages were supposed at one time to be used for producing
the lac, but Green considers them to be breathing structures. Five
species are described from Australia, of which _Tachardia australis_
is so thickly encrusted with reddish brown lac, that it might be
of some commercial value in the future; it is very plentiful upon
Melaleuca bushes near Maryborough, Queensland, but was described by
me from specimens obtained on a small shrub, _Beyeria viscosa_,
at Gunnedah, N.S.W. _T. decorella_ is enclosed in a very dainty,
flattened, ribbed, cushion-like mass of dull slate-coloured lac; it
is found on a number of different trees, among them the water gums
(_Eugenia smithii_); and I have also found it on the desert cypress
(_Callitris_) in the interior.
[Illustration: =Fig. 168.=--_Antonina australis_
(Green).
The Nut-grass Coccid.
1. Nut-grass showing coccid upon the roots.
2. Adult female coccid removed from enveloping cover
(enlarged).]
The Sub-family IDIOCOCCIINAE comprises a number of very curious
coccids, some of which are naked; some form waxy tests; while others
are enveloped in woody galls. Maskell, who created this division, says
they are separated from the MONOPHLEBIINAE by the absence of anal
tubercles and the antennae, and from the BRACHYSCELIINAE by the absence
of anal appendages. The members of the Genus _Sphaerococcus_ number
21 described species, all but two of which are peculiar to Australia;
some form galls, others waxy tests. _Sphaerococcus pirogallus_ cover
the whole of the tips of the bushes of _Leptospermum flavescens_ with
its curious little pear-shaped galls. At first pink or red, these
galls are dull brown when full grown, and have an aperture on the
side of the stalk, and the coccid within is attached to a saucer-like
rim on the roof of the apex. This is one of the commonest galls about
Sydney; acres of these low bushes often have the whole of their foliage
covered with masses of these small galls. _S. melaleucae_ does not
form a gall, but surrounds itself with a dark waxy secretion like the
lac insect; both scales and twigs are often blackened with smut or
fumagine. _L. leptospermi_ forms a swelling in the twig which looks
as if the tissue had risen over it like a blister and then split
down the middle, exposing the dorsal surface. _S. froggatti_ is very
common on the tips of Melaleuca bushes growing about Sydney; the dull
red coccid is clothed with white secretion resting in an excrescence
fringed with slender, reddish brown finger-like processes curling over
in an irregular protective gall. _S. socialis_ produces a very curious
greyish globular gall with no opening on the outside, and measures up
to ½ an inch in diameter. Maskell says: “The outer surface is formed
of very closely imbracted scales, which are apparently aborted and
coalesced leaves of the tree”; the interior is of a loose structure
containing several female coccids, and a few males. It was collected by
Lea near Geraldton, W. Australia.
The Genus _Cylindrococcus_ contains 3 species which form curious
cone-like galls upon the twigs of the She-oak, _Casuarina_.
_Cylindrococcus spiniferus_ varies much in size and shape. They are
often very numerous, covering the whole of the bush with their curious,
rough, bracteate galls, which are rounded at the base and taper to the
extremity. The female, a cylindrical, dull red creature, is enclosed
in an elongate, thin tube, which occupies the centre of the gall; this
tube is attached at the base of the gall and is surrounded with the
bracts. Some of the typical forms might be easily mistaken for seed
cones. _C. amplior_, which is a more solitary species, forms a solid
seed-shaped gall with the base set in a bract like the calyx of a
flower, and the whole might be likened to an unopened bud. It is found
in South Australia and the north-western parts of Victoria.
[Illustration: Plate XXXV.--HOMOPTERA.
Family COCCIDAE.
1. _Apiomorpha duplex_ (Schr.). ♀ Gall.
2. _Sphaerococcus leptospermi_ (Mask.). ♀ Galls.
3. _Cylindrococcus spiniferus_ (Mask.). ♀ Galls.]
[Illustration: _Plate XXXV.--HOMOPTERA._]
The Sub-family BRACHYSCELIINAE contains some of the most remarkable
insects in our fauna. They were first noticed by Schrader (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1862), who described and figured a number of our commonest
species and their galls; to these I have added a number of new
species (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1892–1898). They are all gall makers;
the beautiful little larva born in the gall is usually yellow, oval,
flattened, and fringed round the margin with short glassy filaments. In
most species the full-grown female has antennae and legs aborted, and
becomes simply a sac of eggs and liquid matter enclosed in a leathery
skin, and is furnished with horny tail appendages.
The Genus _Frenchia_ was formed by Maskell for a species, _Frenchia
casuarinae_, which forms a gall like a stout blunt thorn; it is about
the thickness of a slate pencil and has a small opening at the apex.
These twig-like galls spring directly from the branch of the infested
_Casuarina_, while the aborted tissue at the base swells out like a
blister. The slender, attenuated, red female coccid rests head downward
with the tail reaching up to the apical orifice of the gall. A second
species, _F. semiocculta_, forms a raised swelling on the twigs of
_Casuarina_, with a cleft in the centre, thus forming two lobes. The
first is common in Tasmania, Victoria, and N.S. Wales; the latter was
collected at Manly, near Sydney.
Schrader called the next Genus _Brachyscelis_, but Rubasmann finding
the name preoccupied changed it to _Apiomorpha_; over 30 species are
given in Mrs. Fernald’s Catalogue, but there are several species
described both by Rubasmann and Tepper that were described from
variable or aborted galls that may prove to be synonyms. The female is
remarkable for forming a stout woody gall, sometimes sessile, sometimes
springing from a stalk; it encloses an oval cell with a circular or
transverse aperture at the apex of the gall, through which the male
impregnates her by means of his long slender abdomen. The young larvae
are hatched within its shelter, and crawl out to reach their food
plant. The female is a top-shaped (turbinate) creature encased in a
leathery skin, more or less clothed with fine hairs, enveloped in a
mealy secretion, with rows of fine spines on the dorsal surface of the
abdominal segments, and the body terminating in two horny tails (anal
appendages). The head is merged into the thoracic portion, and has the
ventral surface wrinkled and bearing a rudimentary mouth; the antennae
and legs are aborted. The only distinct specific characters are the
dorsal spines and the form of the anal appendages. The males are
delicate two-winged insects, with long antennae, slender legs, and the
body very long and attenuated, ornamented with two fine filaments. They
either form single short tubular galls on the leaves, or form masses of
the same tubular galls; or they are placed in rows enfolded in a hood
growing from the side of the female gall like a small cockscomb. All
the members of this genus are confined to the eucalypts.
_Apiomorpha duplex_ is the largest insect-gall in the world. Springing
directly from the twig, it swells out into a stout four-sided gall,
1½ inches in diameter, 3 inches in length; beyond this the apex of
the gall is produced into two stout flattened appendages extending
another 9 inches. The enclosed female coccid measures up to 1½ inches.
_A. munita_ forms an angulated gall rounded at the base, with each
angle on the apex furnished with a slender curled horn, but it is very
variable both in form and size. _A. pileata_ is an egg-shaped gall,
with the apex truncate and forming two lips, the apical orifice forming
a keyhole-like slit between them. We have two varieties of this gall,
which in their immature state have a membranous tailed cap covering
the apex which dries and falls off as the gall matures, leaving the
apical orifice exposed. _A. pomiformis_ is shaped like and about the
size and shape of a small apple, with the apical orifice situated in
a depression in the centre. It is a North Australian form, and is
also found on stunted gums in the interior. Specimens of a large gall
received from Tennant’s Creek, Central Australia, with the enclosed
coccid, show that the structure of the coccid is very different from
the _Apiomorpha_ the anal extremity being thimble-shaped, fitting
against the apical orifice, so it will require to be placed in a new
genus. _A. dipsaciformis_ is an oval gall covered with curled filaments
like a “teasel.” In the group in which the male galls are formed on
the side of the oval female gall, _A. pharatrata_ is a typical form;
the female gall is oval, overshadowed with the mushroom-shaped mass of
coalesced tubular galls growing out near the apex.
The female coccids of the Genus _Opisthoscelis_, as they change from
the larval stage, lose almost every vestige of the first two pairs of
legs, while the hind pair are produced into long attenuated appendages,
which in some species (when enclosed in the gall) curve round over
the back like hairs; the whole insect is rounded or top-shaped, with
a peg-shaped anal appendage. Thirteen species are described, all of
which produce galls upon different species of eucalypts. _Opisthoscelis
subrotunda_ is our commonest species; the solid fleshy galls, about
the size of a pea, often cover and abort much of the foliage of the
infested tree. The short rounded coccid fits tightly to the cavity, and
the opening, closed by the tip of the anal peg, is on the under side of
the leaf. Schrader has described the male galls of this species, which
are probably very rare, and I have never been able to discover them.
The short, slender, reddish, tubular galls of _O. spinosa_ are as
plentiful as the curious thorn-shaped female galls, which latter
have the opening at the tip, and are common on the foliage of the
large-leaved ironbark, _Eucalyptus siderophloia_, growing around
Sydney. The female coccid, in this and several of the other gall-making
coccids with the spine or thorn-shaped structure, is firmly attached to
the sides and base of the cavity, and is difficult to remove without
damage. The galls of the Genus _Ascelis_ are often dissimilar in form;
that of _Ascelis praemollis_ is rounded, with the opening on the under
side of the leaf, and except for the shape of the scar and larger size
might without close examination be taken for that of _Opisthoscelis
subrotunda_; but the enclosed insect is a very different looking
creature; it is simply an irregular jelly-like mass, with a short
peg-like structure rising from what looks to be the back, but is the
tip of the abdomen; this structure is produced into three finger-like
projections, which, holding a lump of gummy substance, plug up the
basal opening in the gall. _A. schraderi_, which forms a circular,
flattened, blister-like gall in the tissue of the leaves of _Eucalyptus
corymbosa_, is more flattened, with the anal tail truncate at the apex,
without the curious finger-like appendages, and the anal aperture as
fine as a pin prick is on the upper surface of the leaf.
I have gone somewhat extensively into the description of these
gall-making coccids, owing to the fact that they form such remarkable
structures, and differ from all other solid galls in the fact that
they are formed by the larvae and are not the result of eggs deposited
beneath the plant tissue. Specialists in the study of vegetable growths
may find some key to the mystery of gall development in this fact.
The MONOPHLEBIINAE comprises a number of large “mealy bugs,” so called
because they form no protective scale, but are simply clothed with a
mealy secretion, fine filaments or masses of felted wool. The females
are often of considerable size, and during the greater part of their
existence are capable of crawling about, but when adult and about to
lay their eggs they often become fixed to the food plant. The males
are of the usual two-winged type with long antennae and the tip of the
abdomen fringed with fine filaments. This division has been cut up into
a number of sub-families by Cockerell, and these divisions are given
in Mrs. Fernald’s Catalogue, but here I propose to place them together
under the one sub-family.
[Illustration: =Fig. 169.=--_Pulvinaria maskelli_
(Olliff).
The Saltbush Mealy Bug of the interior.
_a_, Male; _b_, Showing the male enclosed in pupal
test; _c_, Larva; _d_, Ventral view of adult female.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
_Monophlebus crawfordi_ is one of our largest species; the female
measures about 1 inch in length and is broad in proportion; she is dull
orange yellow marked with parallel bars of purple, and fringed round
the edges with fine hairs; and is of a general flattened, broad, oval
form, with the dorsal surface distinctly segmented. She is generally
found clinging to the stem of a smooth-barked eucalyptus tree,
sometimes half hidden under a bit of loose bark and surrounded with
white mealy secretion. When egg-laying she sometimes produces a great
quantity of fine curled cottony filaments forming a mass much larger
than the original size of her body, under which the eggs are deposited.
The Genus _Callipappus_ contains 6 Australian species; the females
are flattened, oval, irregularly segmented coccids of a dull brown
to purplish red tint, which are usually found crawling about on tree
trunks. _Callipappus australe_ was described by Maskell (Pro. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1890) under the generic name of _Coelostoma_, a group
confined to N. Zealand. The male is a beautiful two-winged insect of
a general deep red colour, the wings rose-pink, and the tip of the
abdomen clothed with a large bunch of silky white filaments like a
tuft of spun glass; from this latter character it has received the
fanciful but rather appropriate name of the “Bird of Paradise Fly.” The
female is of an oval, flattened form about an inch in length; the body
is irregularly segmented and lightly clothed with flakes of a mealy
secretion. When depositing her eggs, generally on the trunk of a tree,
she becomes attached to the bark with a patch of silk on the ventral
surface of the body; the body swells irregularly, the extremities of
the abdomen shrink and turn upwards, the whole body later becoming
simply a dry shell. Guérin described a species, _C. westwoodi_, from
West Australia; and Fuller a few years ago re-described this and named
two new species.
_Icerya purchasi_, known as the “Fluted or Cottony Cushion Scale,” was
first described from New Zealand, but had been a well-known pest to
the citrus orchards in California many years before it was discovered
in New Zealand. The adult female is a very distinctive red coccid with
black legs and antennae, and a dull red body with the thoracic portion
flattened and fringed with hairs. She produces a quantity of felted
woolly filaments forming a mass completely covering the abdomen, which
is marked with well-defined parallel furrows and ridges; under this
secretion the eggs are deposited. This scale is found upon several
species of wattles (_Acacia_) in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and on
the roses in the gardens. It does little or no harm in Australia, as
it is very much affected by different species of parasites. Several
other species placed by Maskell in this Genus have been removed.
_Palaeococcus nudata_ is one that he described from Australia on
verbenas and cosmos. I found it to be very abundant on red clover
in the Lismore district, N.S. Wales; it is a smaller oval species
uniformly clothed with mealy secretion. _P. rosae_, described by Riley
as _Icerya rosae_, the “Floridian Scale,” is a convex dull brown
shining coccid with the outer margin fringed with short white tufts.
Though originally described as a rose pest in Florida it is found upon
_Hakea_ and _Grevillea_ bushes in the vicinity of Sydney.
[Illustration: =Figs. 170–172.=--Mealy Bugs.
170. _Callipappus (Coelostoma) australe_ (Maskell). ♂.
The “Bird of Paradise Fly.”
171. _Callipappus australe._ ♀.
172. _Callipappus australe._ ♀. After egg laying.]
[Illustration: 173. _Monophlebus crawfordi_ (Maskell). ♀.
174. _Monophlebus crawfordi_, when she is laying her
eggs, which she covers with felted fluted wool.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
Sub-Order III. ANOPLURA.
Sucking Lice.
These insects are wingless, with a more or less thin integument. The
rather complicated sucking mouth is furnished with hooks; the thoracic
segments are indistinctly divided, and the foot terminates in a single
stout claw. They were usually placed at the end of the HEMIPTERA in the
Order PARASITA; but later investigators consider them so very closely
allied to the true bugs that they are here placed as a Sub-Order.
Burmeister called them PEDICULINA.
Family 1. Sucking Lice.
PEDICULIDAE.
These are purely parasitic upon animals, and derive their food from the
blood of their hosts, which they obtain by puncturing the skin with
their tubular sucking mouth. It is not an extensive family, containing
only about 40 described species included in 6 genera, and they are
widely distributed over the world.
Three species are known to live upon the clothes and skin of unclean
men, the eggs of which, known as nits, are attached to the hairs of
the animal or man infested. From their repulsive habits lice are not
popular insects even for entomologists to take up. Nothing is known
about those infesting the natives of Australia, though it is believed
that the different races of man, particularly savage tribes, are
infested with distinct species of these parasites.