[Proc. Eoy. Soc. Victoria, 22 (N.S.), Pt. II., 1909.] 



Ar'J'. XI. — On Australian and Tasmanlan Coleoptera, 

 'with Descriptions of Neiu Species. Part I. 



By ARTHUR M. LEA. 



(With Plate XXX). 



[Read 9th September, 1909]. 



In Masters' Catalogue of Australian Coleoptera 7201 species 

 of beetles are listed. Since then about 6000 additional species 

 have been described or recorded ; but probably considerably 

 over 10,000 species remain to be treated. 



The large and showy species have been comparatively well 

 worked out, at any rate from the more settled districts. But 

 the desert portions of Australia, containing in favourable sea- 

 sons many large and handsome species, have been hardly 

 touched for insects. Many extremely rich parts of 'Queensland 

 have never been systematically collected in, or even traversed 

 by collectors. The Northern Territory and N.W. Australia, 

 except for a slight fringe of coastal country, have been practi- 

 cally untouched. 



When we come to the families of small and obscure species, 

 however, it is no unusual circumstance for an entomologist to 

 find that in his collection is a greater number of species than is 

 recorded for the entire family he may be working at. And at 

 least two collections in Australia (the Macleay Museum and 

 my own) contain more species than are recorded for the whole 

 of the continent. 



The nests of ants, bees and termites, on careful examination, 

 yield many singulax forms of beetles ; but probably less than a 

 dozen entomologists have systematically examined such nests 

 in Australia. 



Species are numerous at the roots of beach-growing plants, 

 but not one has been recorded from the whole of the tropical 

 portions of Australia, except a few from, the north-west. 



