MONOGEAPHICAL ESSAY 



ON THE 



AÜSTBALIA^ BIJPRESTII) GEl'S ASTKAEIS C, ET G. 



J, R. H. NEERVOORT VAN DE POLL. 



Although only two years have elapsed since I published a synopsis 

 of the genus Astraeus with descriptions of three new species, now 

 I am already able to treble the number of the known species and 

 to carry it up to nineteen. This great amount of new material 

 is partly due to the acquisitions I made successively of the Bu- 

 prestid collections of Mr. E. W. Janson, Mr. Th. von Demuth 

 and Dr. F. Baden; each of these collections enriched my set of 

 Astraeus with interesting novelties. However , for the knowledge of 

 the greater part of the new species I am indebted to the rich 

 series of Astraeus my friend Mr. R. Oberthiir placed most courte- 

 ously into my hands for the purpose of this study. The Interior 

 and the West coast of Australia becoming the more and more 

 explored, we may still expect the discovery of a good number of 

 new species. As the great similarity in pattern of the greater part 

 of the species, makes it very difficult to identify these insects with 

 certainty (as yet I never received a collection, wherein they were 

 correctly named), I thought it useful to illustrate this paper with 

 colored figures of all the species, and I have been fortunate enough 

 to secure for this laboursome work the able pencil of the well 

 known Nalui-al History painter Mr. J. Migneaux. 



