309 



Australian Coleoptera 

 Part III. 



By Albert H. Elston, F.E.S 

 [Read September 14, 1922.] 



HALIPLIDAE. 



I was asked to investigate the question, regarding tlie 

 number of joints in the antennae of the Hali'pli, by Mr. 

 Sloane, to whom I desire to express my thanks for specimens 

 of exotic species, and for his kindly advice and suggestions. 



I had already prepared a drawing and notes on Hali'plus 

 ruficoUis, De Geer (Germany), when I heard from Mr. 

 Sloane that Dr. Frits van Emden had already published a 

 paper (Entomologische Mitteilungen , Band xi., Nr. 2, 15 

 Marz, 1922) with a drawing and a description of an antenna 

 of this insect, and, as I have been able to dissect joint 1 from 

 its socket in the head, I thought it desirable to publish this 

 drawing in addition to the antenna of H. testudo, Clark 

 (Australia). With both of the above species I was able with 

 relaxed specimens to move each of the individual eleven joints 

 separately, the basal joint moving quite freely in its socket 

 in the head. 



In addition to those names already mentioned by Dr. 

 van Emden, we find in the following publications the antennae 

 of the Haliplidae referred to as having ten joints : — 

 Lacordaire, vol. i., p. 411 (Haliplus), ''Ant-ennes courtes, 

 do 10 articles : 1 petit, 2-9 obconiques subegaux, 10 plus long, 

 termine en pointe. " Kraatz, Insecten Deutschlands, p. 9 

 (Haliplini), "Antennae frontales, decemarticulatae." Sharp, 

 Cambridge Natural History, vol. ii.. p. 209, "Antennae bare, 

 ten- jointed." Packard, Guide to the Study of Insects, 

 p. 436, "In Haliplus the antennae are ten-jointed." Rye, 

 British Beetles, p. 62 (Haliplus), ". . . their antennae 

 are ten-jointed." Sharp, in the Biologia Centrali- Americana, 

 vol. i. (2), gives a figure of Haliplus solitarius (pi. i., fig. 1), 

 but in the description on page 2 does not even mention the 

 antennae. Stephens, Manual of British Beetles, p. 61, speak- 

 ing of Haliplus, says, "antennae ten-jointed." 



Apparently all these writers had regarded the two basal 

 joints as one, the first division being considered the "bulb 

 of insertion," similar to that found in the Carabidae. Tlie 

 insects comprising the genus Haliplus have no bulb to the 

 first joint (fig. 1, a and c), which is inserted into the head 

 and moves freely in its socket (fig. 1, b), and joint 2, in turn, 

 articulates on joint 1. For the purpose of comparison a 



