Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 53

(**Footnote. Linnean Transactions 9 pages 283 to 295, tab. 24 to 25 1808.

Description of Notoclea, a new genus of Coleopterous Insects from New Holland by Thomas Marsham, Esquire. Tr. L.S. This contains 20 species, some of which however had been previously described by Olivier under Paropsis, the appellation now universally applied to this "convex-backed"

genus. The Reverend William Kirby in a note added the more latent characters.)

As New Holland became colonized and settlements increased Entomology was not altogether neglected, for we find a resident, John W. Lewin, A.L.S., of Paramatta, New South Wales, in 1805, publis.h.i.+ng an elegant and curious quarto volume of plates in which he describes many species of crepuscular and nocturnal Lepidoptera, in most cases figuring the insects in all their stages; it is highly to be regretted that this interesting work was not continued, and it is to be feared that want of encouragement alone prevented the industrious and acute author from persevering in the design of his work, which the t.i.tle he gave it* shows he intended to have made of a general nature on the subject. The accounts of the habits of Cryptophasa and Agarista are peculiarly interesting, and it is much to be wished that some of the many entomologists now in New Holland and the islands of the Pacific Ocean would publish similar notes (however short) on the habits, etc., of the insects they may find.

(*Footnote. Prodromus, etc., Natural History of Lepidopterous Insects of New South Wales, collected, engraved, and faithfully painted after nature by J.W.L. etc. London 1805 4to.)

Dr. Robert Brown, when on Flinders' voyage, collected many interesting insects which were described by Kirby in the 12th volume of the Linnean Transactions.* Several specimens were deposited by this celebrated botanist in the British Museum. We find Dr. Leach commencing the description of New Holland insects in his Zoological Miscellany; and Macleay in his Horae Entomologicae described many curious Lamellicornes.

Since that time the communication with the great South Continent has been so uninterrupted that collections have been continually coming to Europe, and scarcely a s.h.i.+p now arrives without some additions being made to this branch of science.

(*Footnote. Volume 12 1818 pages 454 to 478. A description of several new species of Insects collected in New Holland by Robert Brown, Esquire, F.R.S. etc., by the Reverend W. Kirby, M.A., F.R.S. etc. 33 species described, 13 figured on tab. 23. Mr. Kirby, in his century of Insects published in the same volume, described 17 New Holland species, and in the same celebrated paper founded four new genera upon Australasian Insects, Adelium, Rhinotia, Eurhinus and Rhinaria. He would have described other genera but for his fear of interfering with Germar's labours on the Curculionidae. N.B. Strongylium chalconotum is from Brazil and not from Australasia as indicated.)

The French voyages of discovery under Freycinet,* Duperrey, D'Urville, and Laplace have contributed very much to extend our knowledge of the Natural History of the Southern islands, as the publication of the History of the Voyages of the Uranie, Coquille, Astrolabe, and Favorite, amply testify; we are more especially indebted to Admiral D'Urville, who seems to unite the seemingly incompatible duties of commander of an expedition with an enthusiastic love of and search after insects. M.

Guerin-Meneville published the Annulose animals of the Voyage de la Coquille, in which New Holland genera and species take a prominent place.

Dr. Boisduval described those collected on the expedition of the Astrolabe, he also published the first Fauna Entomologica of New Holland and the Pacific; in his two volumes he gives a synoptical description of all the species he met with in the Parisian collections, indicating also such as he found in books whether he had seen the specimens or not. More detailed descriptions are looked for on some future occasion by the entomologists of this country from the learned and talented author of so many well-known works.

(*Footnote. Voyage autour du monde etc. sur les corvettes de S.M.

l'Uranie et la Physicienne 1817 a 1820 Paris 1824 Partie Zoologie.

Freycinet's Voyage, but for the lamentable s.h.i.+pwreck of one of his vessels, would have added much to our acquaintance with the Natural History of the places visited. Messrs. Quoy and Gaymard, Medecins de l'expedition, published the Zoological part of their notes. They refer with regret to the disastrous accident which deprived them of large collections of Insects made more particularly in the environs of Port Jackson. They describe and figure but one insect from New Holland (Curculio lemniscatus from Shark Bay) a spider from Port Jackson (Aranea notacautha Quoy, Dolophones notacantha Walckenaer Apt. 1 383) in which the brown callosities at the end of the cylindrical abdomen were taken for eyes, a position rectified by Walckenaer as above and by Kirby in his Bridgewater Treatise where he gives a copy of the French figure of this singular spider--Two Crustacea, one (Ocypode convexus) from Dirk Hatterick's and the other (Pagurus clibanarius) from Shark Bay, are all the Annulose animals described or figured as coming from New Holland, from the pitiable circ.u.mstance above alluded to.)

The figures and descriptions of Guerin, though fewer in number, are more detailed than those of Dr. Boisduval, who was much limited for s.p.a.ce.

It would take up too much time to give a t.i.the of the names of the entomologists who have described New Holland insects* as nearly every working student of insects abroad and at home has added to the list.

(*Footnote. The entomologist who would attempt to do this must give a Universal Entomological Bibliography, as scarcely a Journal or volume of Transactions of any Scientific Society appears without containing fewer or more species from the great Australasian Continent and its islands.)

Messieurs Audouin, Blanchard, and Boisduval will shortly publish descriptions of the insects etc. collected on D'Urville's last voyage.

Latreille, Dejean, Schoenherr, and Klug must be specially particularized; Gory, Percheron, Chevrolat, Aube, Serville, Reiche, Spinola, Fischer, and Mannerheim have all more or less added to our acquaintance with the species. Many New Holland Arachnida and Pacific Ocean Crustacea have been described in the well-known works of the Baron Walckenaer and Dr. Milne Edwards. In this country Kirby, Hope, Curtis, G.R. Gray, Waterhouse, Shuckard, Newman, and Westwood have been the princ.i.p.al scientific men who have attended to species of annulosa. Bennett, Mr. Surgeon Hunter, Darwin and Major Mitch.e.l.l, when opportunities offered, collected many species and neglected not the subject of their habits; the last-mentioned having also described (specifically) one or two species in his interesting work.

Macleay's Appendix to Captain King's voyage* is universally known.

(*Footnote. King (Captain Philip P., R.N., F.R.S. etc.) Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia performed between the years 1818 and 1822 2 volumes London 1827. Appendix Catalogue of Insects collected by Captain King, R.N., 192 species of Annulosa, 188 Insects, 4 Arachnida pages 438 to 469; "eighty-one of the species are new." In this paper Macleay inst.i.tutes a Curculionidous genus near Phalidura, which he names Hybauchenia, the type being H. nodulosa.

Carpophagus type C. Banksiae "would probably with Linnaeus have been a Bruchus." Megamerus "has an affinity to Sagra, but differs from that genus in having setiform antennae, porrect mandibles, and securiform palpi, its habit is also totally different, and more like that of some of those insects which belong to the heterogeneous magazine called Prionus; it is undoubtedly the most singular and novel form in Captain King's collection." Type M. kingii.)

Curtis and Haliday have published and are engaged in publis.h.i.+ng the description of Annulosa collected by Captain King, while those collected by Mr. Darwin on the voyage of the Beagle have been entrusted to Mr.

Waterhouse, who has published descriptions of some in the Entomological Society's Transactions and in the Annals of Natural History. Hope's papers in the Zoological Transactions and the Coleopterist's Manual are well known, as are Mr. Newman's in different Magazines and Annals. We rejoice to see in a late number of a small periodical sheet exclusively devoted to Entomology* and edited by this gentleman a letter from Mr.

Davis, containing some interesting information regarding the insects of Adelaide; and in the same periodical there are many New Holland insects described. Much may be expected from Messrs. Macleay and Swainson, both at present in the South Sea islands, and it is to be hoped that in a short time the fruits of their researches will be before the public. Mr.

Gould collected many insects on his Ornithological expedition to New Holland, descriptions of which, from the pen of the Reverend F.W. Hope, may shortly be looked for.

(*Footnote. The Entomologist, conducted by Edward Newman. London Van Voorst in Monthly Numbers.)

The north-west coast of New Holland has been but little investigated, and yet in that quarter the late Allan Cunningham gathered a rich harvest of rare and unknown species; but it would take too much s.p.a.ce to tell what parts have not been searched for insects, suffice it to say that the Swan River settlement, Kangaroo and Melville islands, Adelaide, Sydney, and Hobart Town seem all peculiarly rich in species, and what may we not expect from New Zealand, from the samples already given of its entomology by Fabricius and Shuckard, not to mention others who have described species from that locality.

We yet hope to see a general work on the subject similar to the truly national work on the Birds and Kangaroos at present publis.h.i.+ng by Mr.

Gould. Mr. G.R. Gray commenced such a work in quarto, and the beautiful number ill.u.s.trated by the late Charles Curtis, containing species of Phasmidae, it is to be hoped will not be left single.* I have only room to add that, owing to many other occupations, I can at present give only a very imperfect list of the species you have presented to the National Museum, which were all collected by you on the sh.o.r.es of King George's Sound. A.W.

(*Footnote. I see in Laporte and Gory's Histoire Naturelle et Iconographic des Coleopteres, a work on Australian Insects, by the Reverend Frederick W. Hope, often quoted as Synopsis of the Insects of New Holland, but this must be privately printed, as I have never seen it or heard of it elsewhere.

COLEOPTERA.

CARENUM, Bon. Carenum perplexum.

I think this may be the Scarites cyaneus Fabricius described from the Banksian Cabinet in 1775 (Systema Entomologiae page 249 g. 68 sp. 2.) It differs however from his description in the appendiculated thorax (the sides of which are rounded) being abruptly cut off behind, and in having the somewhat dilated margin there, slightly emarginate. The general surface of the thorax is not so bright in colour as the elytra, it has more of a purple reflection; a dark greenish hue prevails over the elytra, the anterior edge of each having, towards the margin, a slight bend upwards, which forms a kind of tooth, projecting slightly over the somewhat dilated margin of the elytra, along the margin of these are at least eight points, at first seemingly impressed, but when more particularly examined they appear to be raised and to have an impressed line round each of them. The head is black, the antennae and palpi piceous, the third joint in the former is longer than the second or third, the terminal joints are (more especially) furnished with pitchy hairs. Long. lin. 8.

Habitat King George's Sound. Captain George Grey.

The genus Carenum was founded by Fr. A. Bonelli in the second part of his Observations Entomologiques, read the 3rd May 1813 and published in the Turin Transactions for 1813,* upon a specimen contained in the Paris Museum of Natural History, which he regarded as the Scarites cyaneus of Fabricius figured by Olivier.

(*Footnote. Memoires de l'Academie Imp. des Sciences etc. page 479.)

Guerin* has shown that the Arnidius marginatus Leach of the letter-press to the Voyage de l'Astrolabe, page 33, is synonymous with Carenum cyaneum of Bonelli, as he has seen the two specimens, the former of which is in Dupont's collection.

(*Footnote. Crust. Arachn. et Ins. of the voyage of the Coquille avant-propos page 7.)

M. Brulle* observes well that the Carenum cyaneum of Bonelli must be different from the Scarites cyaneus of Fabricius, as both these authors speak of its being blue (or deep blackish green) over the whole upper surface, while in the C. cyaneum the blue is confined to the margin of the elytra; besides Olivier expressly states that the Scarites cyaneus is smaller than the Scarites subterraneus, which will not at all suit the original specimen from which the learned Bonelli derived his generic character. In the British Museum is the original specimen of Arnidius marginatus (catalogued by Dr. Leach) presented by J. Huey, Esquire, and it is very different both in size and in colour from the descriptions of Fabricius and Olivier, and the figure of the latter,** all derived from the original specimen formerly contained in the Banksian collection. Dr.

Boisduval's concise description (op. cit. page 2, page 23) answers the specimen so named by Leach.

(*Footnote. Histoire Naturelle des Ins. par Messieurs Audouin and Brulle 5 page 64.)

(**Footnote. Coleopt. 3 Number 36 l. 2 f. 17.)

If the figure of Carenum cyaneum, given by Audonin and Brulle in their Work (tome 5 plate 2 f. 6) be correctly drawn, it differs very considerably from Leach's specimens of Arnidius, which is a broader insect.

I have not been able to see the original specimen of the Scarites cyaneus, so that in all probability it has been destroyed; it is much to be desired that accurate figures and descriptions were made and published of the original specimens described by Linnaeus and Fabricius, which exist in the Banksian and Smithian Cabinets in the possession of the Linnean Society, as well as those to be found in the Hunterian and British Museums. The genus Eutoma of Newman* seems to me to be synonymous with Carenum, but different from Arnidius of Leach.

(*Footnote. Entomological Magazine 5 page 170 Eu. tinctilatus.)

CHLAENIUS, Bon.

Chlaenius greyia.n.u.s, new species.

C. supra laete viridi-smaragdinus, elytris costis tribus, suturaque elevatis cupreis, laevibus, interst.i.tiis laevibus; margine utraque linea punctorum impressorum instructa; subtus piceo-niger, antennis pedibusque piceo-nigris.

I have named this beautiful species after the Governor of South Australia; in the system it would come close to the European Chlaenius quadrisulcatus, Illiger. (Dejean and Boisduval Iconogr. et Histoire Naturelle des Coleopt. d'Europe 2 page 185 plate 94 f. 3) which it seems singularly to represent.

It is however rather a larger insect, and of a brighter green above than any specimens of the other species which I have seen, there is less of the coppery tinge about its upper surface. The thorax is much narrower, the lateral margins can hardly be called depressed, and they are not at all longitudinally scooped out there, as they are in the C.

quadrisulcatus. The elytra are very distinctly sinuated towards the extremity, and the three elevated ribs are smooth and of a coppery bronze colour, with the intervening s.p.a.ces smooth (at least not granulated as in the C. quadrisulcatus) and have two longitudinal lines of impressed points, one on each side of the smooth interval.

This short description may suffice to distinguish this beautiful species.

Habitat King George's Sound, Captain George Grey. (British Museum.)

Staphylinus erythrocephalus, Fabricius.

Systema Entomologiae 265 to 266 1775 Syst. Eleuth. 2 593 19.

Oliv. Ent. 3 Number 42 sp. 9 page 12 plate 2 figure 9.