The GALLERUCIDES comprise several very destructive garden pests, among which is the well known Pumpkin Beetle, _Aulacophora olivieri_, a reddish yellow and black beetle often called a “lady-bird,” and which in many parts of Australia swarms over the young melons and cucumbers and devours the flowers and foliage. _Monolepta rosae_ is a delicate pale yellow beetle, with the front half of the elytra shaded with rose red; it has a wide range, and on the northern rivers congregates in great numbers at times, eating up the young foliage of the citrus trees. The Fig-leaf Beetle, _Galleruca semipullata_, lays its spindle-shaped eggs in patches on the leaves of both the wild and cultivated figs, upon the surface of which the dirty yellow coloured larvae feed, finally crawling down the trunks and pupating in the ground. The beetle measures about ⅓ of an inch in length; is of a dull ochreous yellow, with the outer margins of the broad elytra striped with dull bluish black. _Hoplostinus viridipennis_ is a much smaller, dull brownish yellow beetle, with shorter, rounded, deep metallic green elytra. It feeds upon the foliage of the nettle trees growing in the scrubs of the Northern Rivers, N.S.W. [Illustration: =Fig. 98.=--_Paropsis immaculata_ (Marsham). A typical Leaf-eating Beetle. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)] [Illustration: =Fig. 99.=--_Monolepta rosae_ (Blackburn). The Painted Leaf Beetle. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)] The HISPIDES are a very distinct group of the plant-eating beetles, whose larvae are sometimes very destructive; they bore into the foliage or stalks of plants, feeding in, and not upon the plant tissue. The beetles might be divided into two sections; those that are short and broad shouldered like _Monochirus multispinosus_, which measures ⅙ of an inch in length, is black in colour, with the whole of the dorsal surface covered with short fine spines, and is common upon grass blades on the South coast of N.S. Wales; and the elongate almost cylindrical forms found on sedges belonging to the Genus _Euryspa_. These beetles are remarkable for the situation of their antennae, which are very close together at the base, and stand straight out in front of the head. _Brontispa froggatti_, belonging to the latter section, is a very serious pest on the cocoa nut palms in New Britain and Solomon Islands. The CASSIDIDES are curious ladybird-like beetles of a general yellow or light brown colour spotted or marked with black, with the outer margins of the elytra spreading out into an encircling flange or rim. They are confined to the more tropical forests of Queensland, but one species, _Aspidomorpha deusta_, comes into the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales; it is of the usual shape and mottled tints, measuring about ¼ of an inch in length. Family 51. Fungus Beetles. EROTYLIDAE.