309 



REVISION OF THE CTCTNDELIDJE OF AUSTRALIA. 



By Thomas G. Sloank. 



Plates xxv.-xxxi., from drawings by Arthur M. Lea and H. J. 

 Hillier (Plate xxxi.). 



This paper had its origin in an offer by Mr. A. M. Lea to 

 prepare some illustrations of the Cicindelidse of Australia if I 

 would supply the letterpress. Students of the Cicindelidse owe 

 a debt of gratitude to Mr, Lea for applying to this family his 

 skill and knowledge of anatomical draughtsmanship gained by 

 long study and careful descriptive work in the order Coleoptera, 

 more especially as his action was prompted solely by his enthu- 

 siasm as a coleopterist. 



After considerable progress had been made with this Revision 

 Dr. Walther Horn sent me his " Systematischer Index der 

 Cicindeliden " (Berlin 1905), and invited me to correspond with 

 hiui; he kindly read the first drafts of my species-tables, and 

 offered some opinions thereon; it is therefore with much pleasure 

 that I record my thanks to him for the assistance he has given, 

 which has enabled me to make my work of fuller value and more 

 modern tone than could otherwise have been the case. My 

 thanks are also especially due to Mr. C. French, of Melbourne, 

 for valuable assistance by the gift and loan of specimens, includ- 

 ing the three new species recorded in this Revision. 



Taxonomy. 



Darwin's views on classification should never be lost sight of 

 by the systematist, and I would direct particular attention to 

 the following, namely (1) the falsity of the idea that those parts 

 of the structure which determined the habits of life, &c, of each 

 animal would be of very high importance in classification; (2) the 



