34 



Bryan in the north and Mount G-ainbier in the south. Through 

 rarious causes the earlier collections were lost to me, but not 

 the experience gained. The present collection to be reviewed 

 in the sequel dates in its beginning about twelve years back, 

 was brought together within a very limited area, and comprises, 

 in round numbers, about 2,600 species (while in the anniversary 

 address cited above the author only enumerates 782 species as 

 scientifically known to exist in all South Australia !) , gathered 

 within a radius of a few miles around INew Mecklenburg, 

 Lyndoch, Tanunda, Nuriootpa (N.), Callington, Monarto (E.), 

 and Ardrossan, T.P. (W.) Having always kept specimens 

 from other parts of Australia, <fec, strictly separate, the num- 

 bers given can be confidently taken as referring to really 

 indigenous insects. The three principal centres from which 

 my excursions radiated were — (1) New Mecklenburg, four miles 

 "W. of Tanunda, and includes Lyndoch ; (2) Nuriootpa, four 

 miles 1ST. of Tanunda ; (3) Monarto, eight miles east of Cal- 

 lington, including the neighbourhood of the latter and the 

 scrub to the Murray -River, and comprising by far the largest 

 area. 



These three specialised areas, furnishing quite 95 per cent, of 

 the insects to be mentioned, overlapped each other very little ; 

 the remaining five per cent, were got by occasional short visits 

 to other localities, and friendly exchanges in slight proportion. 

 At the first place named 587 species were obtained in four 

 years ; at the second, 785 additional in nearly five years ; and 

 at ths last, 948 additional, in eighteen months. But it is not to 

 be understood that so many species are strictly peculiar to 

 each locality, but only that they were there obtained first. The 

 following table shows in a condensed form some details of the 

 distribution of the respective orders, but one — the Aptera — has 

 not had attention paid to it : — 



Table of the Numbers of Families, Genera, and Species of Sooth 

 Australian Insects. 



Orders. 



Number of 

 Families. 



Number of 

 Genera. 



Number of 

 Species. 



1. Coleoptera 



2. Lepidoptera 



3. Hymenoptera 



4. Orthoptera 



5. Hemiptera 



6. Neuroptera 



7. Diptera 



8. Thysanura . . . . . . . . 



Total 



18 



19 



14 



7 



12 



9 



8 



1 



198 

 80 

 34 

 16 

 28 

 16 

 17 

 1 



1,411 

 395 

 240 

 134 

 272 

 43 

 159 

 1 



88 



390 



2,655 



