194 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. VII, April, 1953 
HISTORICAL 
The history of Australian braconid system- 
atics may be divided conveniently into four 
major periods of activity, namely, 1777 to 
1890, 1891 to 1913, 1914 to 1927, and 1928 
to 1951. 
First Period 1777-1890. 
Australian braconid systematics com- 
menced with the publication of the descrip- 
tion of new species by Fabricius in 1777, and 
was ably carried on by Brulle in 1846. Other 
workers who described Australian species dur- 
ing this period were Erichson, Guerin-Mene- 
ville, and Holmgren. During this period, 15 
species were described from Australia and 
Tasmania. Fabricius worked on the collec- 
tions made by Banks and Solander, naturalists 
on the "Endeavour” during Cook’s voyages. 
These early Australian species were collected 
by Banks and Solander on the return journey 
of the "Endeavour” to England after observ- 
ing the transit of Venus at Tahiti. The "En- 
deavour” was in Australian waters from April 
to August, 1770, and, according to Musgrave 
(1930; 190), the insects were mostly captured 
around Botany Bay and the east coast of 
Australia. From this material, four species of 
Braconidae were described, and the types are 
in the Banksian Collection in the British 
Museum. It was not until 1824 that the next 
braconids to be described from Australia were 
obtained during the voyage of the "Coquille”, 
commanded by L. I. Duperrey. Lessen and 
Garnot were the naturalists, and the insects 
were later described by Guerin-Meneville. A 
footnote (a) by Musgrave (1930; 194) states 
"In Duperrey’s 'Voyage autour du Monde 
. . . sur ... La Coquille, pendant les Annees 
1822-1825.’ The plates, with the scientific 
names of the insects appeared between 1827- 
1832, but the text did not appear until 1838.” 
Erichson described a species from Tasmania 
in 1841. Five years later, Brulle (1846) de- 
scribed eight species from Australia and Tas- 
mania in his great work "Histoire Naturelle 
des Insects.” A specimen collected at Sydney, 
New South Wales, was described by the well- 
known European hymenopterist Holmgren in 
1868. No further species were described dur- 
ing this period. Thus, 15 species of braconids 
were known from Australia and Tasmania to 
1890. 
Second Period 1891-1913 
This period may conveniently begin with 
the publication of Froggatt’s "Catalogue of 
Described Hymenoptera of Australia,” in 
which he lists eight species of braconids from 
Australia (actually 15 species were known at 
this time). During the 22 years covered by 
this period, Ashmead, Froggatt, Cameron, 
Szepligeti, Bingham, and Kokujew contribut- 
ed to the knowledge of the Australian mem- 
bers of this family. Szepligeti, between the 
years 1901 and 1908, played the most promi- 
nent part. 
A German expedition collected a number 
of insects in southwest Australia in 1905 
which later were described by specialists in 
"Die Fauna Siidwest-Australiens. 1907-1910,” 
in which Szepligeti (1908) described the Bra- 
conidae. 
Third Period 1914-1927 
The works of R. E. Turner (1917-27) dom- 
inate this period, although those of Froggatt, 
Fullaway, and Baker must be mentioned. The 
period closes with the publication in 1926 of 
Baker’s work on the Australian and Philip- 
pine Cheloninae. 
An expedition, headed by Dr. E. Mjoberg, 
traveled into Queensland and northwest Aus- 
tralia. The Braconidae were described by 
Roman (1915). 
Fourth Period 1928-1931 
During this period a great amount of im- 
portant revisional work was undertaken, prin- 
cipally by Wilkinson, on the Microgaster- 
inae; this work was ably continued by Nixon. 
These authors dealt with the faunas of large 
regions and placed the systematics of Aus- 
tralian Braconidae on a sound basis in indi- 
cating their relationship with other faunas. 
