180 



(Sub-Fams. Anisodactylidje and Harpalid^.) 

 The classification of the Australian insects of these groups 

 is in a state of great confusion ; nor am I able to do very 

 much towards clearing up the difficulty. The great obstacle 

 consists in the unsatisfactory nature of most of the descriptions 

 that have been published, which renders the identification of 

 the insects they refer to very doubtful. As I have before me 

 some species of the group that are certainly as yet undescribed, 

 and which I now purpose describing, it will not be out of place 

 to preface my descriptions with a few notes on the genera of 

 these sub-families. Taking Mr. Masters' recent catalogue of 

 Australian Coleoptera in hand, we find the general confusion 

 very clearly reflected there. Under the heading " Sarpalides'^ 

 that catalogue includes all the genera mentioned in it which 

 belong to M. Lacordaire's two tribes Anisodactylides and Har- 

 palides. But it is headed by the genus Phorticosomus which 

 Dr. Schaum (its author) states (evidently correctly) to belong 

 to the Crafocerides — a sub-family that finds a place elsewhere 

 in Mr. Masters' catalogue. The next genus Geohcenus is- 

 represented by a single species described in the "Voyage de la 

 Coquille," the identification of which is probably hopeless, and 

 which is not at all likely to be a real Geohcenus. Then follows 

 Gnathaphanus, to which eleven species are attributed. Gnatha- 

 'plianus was founded by Mr. W. 8. Macleay on the female of a 

 species from Java, and Lacordaire and Erichson have both 

 regarded it as probably a mere synonym of Harpalus. How- 

 ever this may be, unless there is evidence in the matter un- 

 known to me, I should think it very improbable that the 

 Australian species are entitled to bear the name. The first 

 species in the genus (Adelaidce, Cast.), and several others at 

 least, are moreover evidently congeneric with the species that 

 appears some pages further on under the name of Microsaurus 

 (a name that has fared badly, for its author, Mr. Bates, in the 

 Journal of Entomology, gives it as Mirosarus, and in the same 

 volume it is indexed as Ilicrosarus) . Anisodactylus follows 

 Gnaihaphanus with three species, one of which was attributed 

 to the genus by the Baron de Chaudoir. This is no doubt very 

 high authority so far as concerns the species described by the 

 Baron* ; as regards the other two {Harpalus 7'otundicoUis and 

 Waterhousei, Cast.), althougli the tarsal structure and some 

 other characters are extremely suggestive of Anisodactylus, the 

 shape of the thorax, the great slenderness of the antennae and 

 palpi, and other features produce a facies utterly unlike that 

 of 1 he European ^?z2sof/«c/j//2', and suggest the need of anew 

 generic name. AVithout having seen the Baron de Chaudoir's 



* I have not seen the description. 



