355 



ON THE AUSTRALIAN BEMBIDIIDES REFERABLE 

 TO THE GENU8 TACHYS, WITH THE DESCRIP- 

 TION OF A NEW ALLIED GENUS PYRROTACHYS. 



By Thomas G. Sloane. 



In the present paper I liave placed in the genus Tachys all the 

 Australian Bembidiides which have the anterior tibiae decidedly- 

 oblique above the apex on the external side; normally also a striole 

 is present on the apical declivity of each elytron, but this 

 character is not invariable. 



The most important contribution to the knowledge of the 

 Bembidiides of Australia is Sir William Macleay's notice and 

 descriptions of seventeen species from Gayndah, all of which he 

 referred to the genus Bembidium* I have seen the types of 

 Macleay's species in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Thi'ee of 

 them, viz., B. amplipenne, B. hipartitum and B. sexstriatum, I am 

 unable to deal with, as I do not possess specimens ; and, not 

 residing in Sydney, I cannot see the types at present. Specimens 

 of the eleven species to which the remaining fourteen must be 

 reduced are in my possession. Nine are dealt with in the present 

 paper; the tenth is Bembidium jacksoniensf., Guer., = B. suhviride, 

 Macl., the eleventh, Beiabidittin gagatinum, Macl., is not a 

 Bembidiid at all, but a Harpalid which may be referred, at least 

 tentatively, to the genus Thfiiarotes.^ 



* Vide Trans. Eut. Soc. N.S W. 1873, ii. pp. 115-120. 

 t Bemhkl'mm flaripts, Macl., is a synonym of B. gagatinum, Macl., being 

 founded on an immature specimen; the species, which extends as far south 

 as the Murray River, may be known in future as Thenarotes gagatinus, 

 Macl. 



