soDic new AiiiWHx j'roni Western Ai/s/ru/ia. 519 



new fjcnus and five new species. There arc other records of 

 interest. In this connection attention may once nior<: be 

 drawn to the lack of tliouf^ht (or of knowledge) in preservint^ 

 data relative to the distribution of animal life in Aus- 

 tralia. Labels, too t'requently, ^^ive Western Australia as a 

 locality ! Few peoj)le in Europe seem to be aware that the 

 State is equal in area to the United Kingdom, Germany, 

 France, Italy, Norway, and Spain together. The climatic 

 differences between the extreme tropical north and the wet 

 winter country round Albany in the south are more than 

 would be expected from the distance separating the two 

 regions. 



Some specimens of the Asilidse from Western Australia 

 must have been collected in the "early days" of the State. 

 A few of these are to be found in the British Museum 

 collections, and odd specimens have been seen by one of the 

 writers in certain other museums. Almost all the Biitish 

 Museum specimens were discussed by Ricardo in her papers 

 on the Asilidfe of Australasia (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1912 

 and onwards). Since the publication of Ricardo's j);ij)ers, 

 White, of Tasmania, has contributed a paper on the Asiiidaj 

 of Australia, in which eight new species from Western 

 Australia are described. Two of White's species (the types 

 of which are probably somewhere in Australia) appear in our 

 collection. A list of the West-Austialian Asilids, with their 

 distribution, is appended (p. 520). 



It was considered advisable to examine the genital arma- 

 ture of the species in our collection, but no attempt will be 

 made here to discuss the genital armature of the Asilidte. 

 Much more material is necessary, and we have, indeed, 

 grudged damaging the few specimens in our possession. It 

 will be seen that the genital armature of two of the species 

 is rather striking (text-figs. 4, 5, & 6), and, in fact, quite 

 different from that of the other specimens examined (lext- 

 fig. 3). Whilst the two species are extremel}' unlike in 

 general form and appearance, they belong to closely related 

 genera. One of them is a new species of the genus jS'eosdro- 

 poc/on, created by Ricardo for two species previously known. 

 Tiie other is a species which cannot be fitted into existing 

 genera, although it closely approaches Neosarojwf/on. We 

 had no doubt Iroin the general form, etc., that this was a 

 genus quite distinct from Neosaropoaon. The discovery of 

 tlie similarity of the genital armature was therefore surprising. 

 However, in view of the fact that jiractically notliing is 

 knowji of the genital armature in the Asilidaj, it is not 



35* 



