181 A MONOGRAPH OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLYDIIDAE. By H. J. Cartee, B.A., F.R.E.S., and E. H. Zeck. (Plates viii-ix; two Text-figures.) [Read 25th August, 1937.] The accumulation of unnamed material and the need for greater accuracy in the nomenclature make it desirable to attempt a survey of this group, a work approached with much difladence, but rendered possible by the courteous and able help of K. G. Blair and J. G. Arrow of the British Museum, who have identified and compared with type many examples sent to them. This has been supplemented by the gift or loan of specimens that illustrate genera rare or unknown in Australian collections. We are also indebted to Mr. Womersley and the Trustees of the South Australian Museum for the loan of a large collection of this family, which includes some cotypes of Blackburn and Lea. Also the National Museum, Melbourne, the Macleay Museum and the Australian Museum, Sydney, the Queens-land Museum, Brisbane, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Canberra, have all helped by the loan of material. We are also indebted to F. E. Wilson, whose specimens, being in perfect order, simplified their examination. Previous work in this family has been of a somewhat intermittent kind. Amongst Australian authors, Blackburn is the most prolific. Two genera, Deretaphrus and Bothrideres, are especially common and widely distributed throughout Australia, under the bark of suitable Eucalyptus trees. As with other common insects, they are subject to great variations of size and colour. The many minute members of the family are much neglected except by expert collectors. The labels of the late A. M. Lea and Dr. E. W. Ferguson, and of our friends F. E. Wilson, Dr. K. K. Spence and J. Armstrong, abundantly show this amongst the many hundreds of specimens examined. A remarkable feature is the very wide distribution of species. Species described by Sharp from Japan, by Pascoe from Malaya, by Grouvelle from Ceylon and elsewhere, occur in Australia. This probably accounts for much of the synonymy in the family. There is no evidence of this wide distribution being-otherwise than natural. Classification of the Australian Colydiidae. Grouvelle included the sub-families Euxestinae and Murmidiinae in this family. The former is not included in our Monograph through lack of material and the existing doubt as to its correct family position. The latter contains no Note by H. J. Carter : The greater part of the systematic work of the following has been done by myself. But I am greatly indebted to E. H. Zeck for his dissections of tarsal and other structures in the smaller species ; for his inimitable drawings of these and of the figures of the new species ; also for much helpful advice. These things have so much added to the value and accuracy of the paper that it is right to include his name as joint author. w
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