The larvae of these beetles can be often found in numbers feeding in the different kinds of woody fungi that grow upon tree trunks, old fences, and fallen logs. If these infested fungi are collected and kept in a box the beetles can be very easily bred out. They can be readily recognised by their elongate, boat-shaped form, and clubbed antennae. _Episcaphula pictipennis_, one of our commonest species, is black, but thickly mottled with deep orange red forming three interrupted bands across the elytra. It measures about ¼ of an inch. _Thallis janthina_ is a smaller, shining, blue black beetle, slightly roughened on the elytra; it breeds in the large, spongy, white fungus growing on the tree trunks known as “punks.” Family 52. Lady-bird Beetles. COCCINELLIDAE. These well-known beetles differ from the last family (which many of them resemble in outward appearance) in having 3 jointed tarsi, and the short usually 11 jointed antennae (occasionally 8–10) being slightly clubbed at the tips. In their habits however they differ in being carnivorous both in the larval and adult state, with the exception of the members of the Genus _Epilachna_, which are phytophagus. They are all small rounded beetles; the short head fits close into the thorax, which in turn rests against the front of the elytra: most of them are yellow, spotted or marked with darker yellow, metallic blue or black, and are slightly pubescent. These insects are well known in our gardens to the children as “lady-birds,” and the quaint rhyme of “Fly away lady-bird” is said to have originated in the hop fields of Kent: after the hop picking, the dead plants, where the common English lady-bird was abundant feeding upon the hop aphis, were burnt off, and this was a warning by the children to them to fly away before the fires were started. They have been closely studied by economic entomologists because they are the natural enemies of so many aphis and scale insects. [Illustration: =Fig. 100.=--_Epilachna 28-punctata_ (Fabr.). The Spotted Leaf-eating Lady-bird. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)] Over 2,000 species have been described from all parts of the world, and in the latest list given by Lea (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1901), 110 are recorded from Australia. Mulsant published his great work (Species Coleopteris Trimeres Securipalpes) in 1850: Crotch published his “Revision of the Coccinellidae” in 1874; in both of these will be found descriptions of Australian species. Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1892) and Lea previously quoted, added a number of new species to our fauna. [Illustration: =Fig. 101.=--_Epilachna guttatopustulata_ (Fabr.). The Potato-leaf Lady-bird. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)] [Illustration: =Fig. 102.=--_Leis conformis_ (Boisd.) The Common Spotted Lady-bird. (“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]