

A REVISION OF THE STAPHYLINID^E OF AUSTRALIA. 



By A. Sidney Olliff, F.E.S., 

 Assistant Zoologist, Australian Museum. 



Part I. 



It is now some months since I undertook, at the request of the 

 Hon. William Macleay, to prepare a descriptive paper on the 

 Australian Staphylinidse for publication in the Proceedings of this 

 Society. It was not without considerable hesitation that I undertook 

 the task as I knew that if I did so it implied the examination of 

 many hundred specimens and the preparation of a large number of 

 microscopic dissections of their mouth-parts and appendages. 



When I began to investigate the literature of the subject I soon 

 found that as regards the genera my work would not be as 

 satisfactory as I could wish. Outside the Palsearctic or North- 

 Temperate region comparatively little is known of these insects 

 and consequently the present classification of the family is founded 

 to a large extent on the species of Europe and North America. 

 Following the example of that distinguished specialist Dr. David 

 Sharp, who in an elaborate paper on the Staphylinidse of the 

 Amazon Valley (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1876) distinctly stated his 

 object was to describe the species and that he only concerned 

 himself with genera because questions of nomenclature compelled 

 him to do so, I have refrained from making new generic names 

 except in the case of a few very distinct forms. When our know- 

 ledge of this group is more complete I have no doubt it will be 

 found convenient to establish genera for some Australian species 

 now associated with European forms, but at this distance from the 

 large collections of Europe and in the absence of complete scientific 

 libraries it is not possible to deal with the genera with any certainty 

 of good results and I have, therefore, contented myself with sum- 

 marizing their characters and adding such hints as appeared to me 

 likely to assist in the identification of their species. 



