404 A REVISION OP THE STAPHYLINIDjE OF AUSTRALIA, 



In the account now laid before the Society, which dealing as it 

 does with a limited amount of material — probably not a tithe of 

 the existing species — must of necessity be only a contribution to a 

 general monograph of the family, I have restricted myself to the 

 definition of the sub-families, tribes, genera and species. Affixed 

 to some of the genera a few observations on geographical distri- 

 bution will be found, but all generalizations are postponed until 

 the completion of the paper. 



The classification of the Staphylinidse propounded by Erichson (1) 

 in 1840 has been generally followed up to the present time ; a few 

 corrections and modifications have been made by Duval, Kraatz, 

 Key, Sharp and other recent writers, but the broad principles of 

 his system have been left untouched. In the present paper the classi- 

 fication employed by Lacordaire in his "Genera des Coleopteres," 

 (Vol. II., 1854), which is essentially that of Erichson, has been 

 adopted with but little alteration. 



The only paper dealing exhaustively with the Australian fauna 

 which has appeared is M. Albert Fauvel's " Staphylinides de 

 lAustralie et de la Polynesie," published in two parts, in the Annals 

 of the Genoa Museum. (2) Here will be found detailed descriptions 

 of all the species known at that time, including a large number of 

 new forms. How much I am indebted to this work will appear 

 throughout the following pages. 



I have pleasure in thanking Mr. Augustus Simson of Laun- 

 ceston, Tasmania, and Mr. George Masters for the loan of their 

 collections and for the trouble they have taken to answer my 

 enquiries as to the localities and habits of the species they have 

 themselves collected. To Mr. George Barnard I am indebted for 



(1) Genera et species Staphylinorum, Insectorum Coleopterorum familiae : 

 Berlin. 



(2) Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, X., 

 pp. 168-298 (1877), and XIII., pp. 465-598(1878). Translations of a few 

 of these descriptions have been published by Mr. S. E. Holder (Trans. 

 Royal Soc. S. Australia, IV., pp. 77-97, 1882), under the title " Descrip- 

 tions of South Australian Staphylinidae ; translated from the French and 

 Latin of M. Fauvel," but I have not thought it necessary to quote them 

 here as they are not always intelligible and the paper is very incomplete, 

 only containing thirty-two species. 



