INTRODUCTION 
2 
The type of a species or subspecies is that particular butterfly from ■which the scientific 
description was drawn when the name was first applied. Only of late 3 'ears has sulhcient importance 
been attached to the labelling and preservation of these examples, and unfortunately many of the 
earlier types have been scattered and lost: some of the early authors did not even indicate which 
particular specimen of a series they regarded as the type. We here record the whereabouts of 
those types known to be still in existence, for much of the dilliculty of determining species and many 
of the errors fallen into in describing new ones, could be avoided were the types easily available. 
The Fabrician tyiDcs of 1775 are still in the Banksian collection of the British Museum: of those 
since described by Fabricius many ai^pear to have been lost: some of his earlier species had no 
types, for both Fabricius and Donovan described Australian butterllies from the coloured drawings of 
William Jones of Chelsea, without seeing the insects at all. The tyj^es of AY. S. Macleay, Avith the 
single exception of that of Terias herla^ have disappeared. Those of Hewitson and Butler are nearly 
all in the British Museum, Avhile most of those of Felder are in the Tring Museum. Semper's 
types have been scattered, excepting those of his Lycaenidae, Avhicli are in the Druce collection. 
The Ilesperid types of Ploetz and ^labille are dispersed through many collections, and but few of 
them can now be traced. AYith the exception of a few in the Lucas collection, the types of Mishin 
are in the Queensland Museum. Some of Olliff^s feAV types have been lost, but most of them are in 
the Australian Museum. Our oavii types, with the single excei^tion of 0. ianthis in the Australian 
Museum, are all in our own collections, and LoAver still retains p)ossession of most of his types. 
Our record of the geographical distribution of the Australian butterflies, and the mouths of their 
appearance on the Aving, is necessarily someAAdiat fragmentary, since it is based almost entirely upon 
those specimens Avhicli have passed through our oAvn bands, and it is only during the last ten or tAvelve 
years that Ave have given the gathering of these records sj)ecial attention. Previous Avriters liaA'e 
done little or nothing in this connection, and the A’alue of the few records that Iuia'c been published 
is often discounted by some uucertainty as to the correct identilicalion of the simeies mentioned. 
So fai tlieic baA’e been but feAV collectors in Australia, and these fcAV haA*e almost all resided on the 
eastern or southei'n seaboard, and ha\*e lai’gely^ confined their attention to that portion of our continent. 
Our distances are so great, our country lias been so sparsely populated and our collectors have 
been so fcAv, that the difficulties in the AA'ay of gathering a rejiresentatiA'e collection liaA’e only of 
late years been surmountable. DarAvin is farther aAvay from Melbourne than Constantinople is 
fiom Loudon and it takes three times as long to reach there: from Sydney it takes longer to reach 
AAyndham than it does to reach Lurojie. The shalloAV’ seas pre\'ailing along the northeastern coasts 
discouiage settlement, and many’ distidets between Perth and DarAvin have not yet been touched by the 
collector. Our fcAV city museums have been too scantily staffed to permit of much attention being 
giAen to this paiticular bianch of natui’al history: these public collections are still comparatwely 
poor and the authentic records available from them are limited. 
The numbeis foIloAAiiig the localities in the list beneath each description are the numbers of the 
months of tlie'^:^'e.ar during which we have records of the butterfly having been captured. But distant 
points have seldom be.m visited except during the collecting season lienee anything approaching 
a complete. Mist of months of capture, or an exhaustive record of distribution, cannot be 
attempted until Ave* have energetic resident collectors scattered over our island continent. A\‘e are 
liojDiii^ this AAQik aaHI seiAe to indicate the need and point tlie direction, and so induce 001160101*3 to 
aid us: we ara carefully tabulating every verified record reaching us. ami will much appreciate 
crated specimens for ,examination and return, especially those from points distant from localities 
given in our list. • 
^Micn the-geographical distnhiition of the butterflies of Australia comes to he carefully studied, 
e position o eadi locality lecoided in this Avork, and the date of each capture, Avill be of 
1 o ance. le map AAitli the index at the end of our book gives the exact position of each locality 
at a glance. For convenience of index reference we have numbered our points of record, beginning 
