526 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
9.—NOTES ON THE KNOWN DIPTEROUS FAUNA OF 
AUSTRALIA. 
By Freperick A. A. SKUSE. 
Tue Diptera, or two-winged flies, constitute a very considerable 
section of our fauna; indeed, it would be strange if they did 
not, for throughout the world this order is known to be one of the 
most richly represented of the great insect class. 
Our Lepidoptera and Coleoptera have been assiduously collected 
and studied, but the Diptera, which are probably as numerous 
as either of these orders, have been sadly neglected by both 
collectors and describers. 
The total number of described Australian Diptera cannot be 
precisely stated, but it does not exceed 1392. Even this small 
total is undoubtedly above the mark, being for the most part 
merely an enumeration of the published descriptions. On close 
examination, many cases will be found where descriptions of the 
same species are twice and thrice presented by one or more 
authors, under not only different specific and perhaps generic 
names, but in some instances placed in wrong families. Many 
unavoidable cases of describing the same species twice over must 
necessarily be found among the numerous publications of Walker 
and Macquart between 1848 and 1856; also, between those of 
Dr. Schiner (“ Novara” Exp.) and Thomson (“ Eugenia” Exp.), 
both appearing in the year 1868, and each containing about fifty 
descriptions of new species of Diptera found in the neighbourhood 
of Sydney. 
In the following pages, under the different family headings, 
arranged in systematic order, I have enumerated all the genera 
(with the number of species) recorded from Australia, or known 
to occur here. 
The families Cecidomyide, Sciaridee, Mycetophilide, Simulide, 
Bibionide, Culicids, Chironomid, and the Tipulide brevipalpi 
have been reviewed by myself in the proceedings of the Linnean 
Society of New South Wales (1888-89), and a fair number of 
species have been described. All the species of the rest of the 
families have been described by European authors, chiefly by 
Walker and Macquart, in the Dipteres Exotiques and Lritish 
Museum Catalogue respectively; and very little indeed has 
been done among the Australian Diptera during the last twenty 
years. Dr. Schiner (V.z.-b.G. Wien, 1866) reviewed the Asilidee 
of the world, with the advantage of a large number of types, 
so that our knowledge of the described Australian species 
is fairly complete; Dr. Gerstaecker (Ent. Zeit. Stett., 1868) 
overhauled the Midaide; and Bigot (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1874) 
partially reviewed the Dexide. Of few of the other families is 
