Australian insects

The type of a species is the actual specimen from which the published description has been drawn up by the entomologist; and the care and safe custody of such types should be the aim of every naturalist and museum curator. In the case of insects, they are often such delicate creatures that the type is very easily destroyed or damaged, either by careless handling, bad storage, or from the attacks of museum mites and pests; and at the present time, since many insect types have been thus lost or destroyed, often doubt exists as to which particular insect in the group is the species defined by the author, especially where the written description, as in many cases, is brief or incomplete. Many large private collections have been made by entomologists in which there are numbers of types either described by the owner, or of specimens he has obtained and submitted to specialists. Some of these collections have afterwards been broken up, sold, and distributed, so that it is now very difficult to trace the whereabouts of many types that do exist. Every year brings more independent entomologists into the ranks of the describers, so that our insects are being described in all parts of the world; and though the importance of types is much better understood than it used to be, the ultimate resting place of many of these types is very uncertain.

The proper place for every type is in the cabinet of some accredited museum, though unfortunately there are some museums where the collections of insects are no safer than they are in private hands, either from want of proper storage or the lack of a special curator. Yet if it were an understood thing that the types of each specialist would be placed in the museum of his country, there would be some hope of them being available for the use of future students.

The drawbacks to such a disposal of types are that most entomologists when they monograph a group intend to follow up the work as new material comes to hand, which occurs when through their publications collectors begin to forward specimens for identification; so that the types are often required by entomologists for supplementary papers.

Again, each insect as soon as it becomes a type has a certain commercial value, and as most naturalists are poor men, this enhanced value is a consideration, and it would be hardly fair to expect them to give away valuable assets. The best way to get over the difficulty would be for each museum to have a sum of money put aside to purchase all types at a certain fixed rate, and with an understanding that no types go out of their native country before they have been submitted to the museum authorities.

It is very unfortunate that many of the early and most prolific writers never definitely marked their type-specimen when it was described, simply returning it to the cabinet with the new name either on the pin or below it; and where there has been a series of the same species, and some assistant affixed the names, the recognised type may be a co-type. Co-types are very valuable when they are determined by the describer from the same species, but some writers have the bad habit of treating co-types as types, which leads to much distrust and confusion.

Every type should if pinned have a second label besides the ordinary label placed well up on the pin, and bearing the word “type,” with the date, initials of the author, and name of the insect on the reverse side, so that as long as the specimen is in existence there can be no doubt as to it being a type.

I therefore propose in the following pages to give some brief notes upon our Museum Collections, with reference to the types they contain; and also to refer to those types in private collections. To work out the location of the Australian type-specimens and collections in British and foreign museums would require a book to itself, but the destination of a few types of the more important collections can be indicated.

Through the kindness of the Curators of the different Australian Museums and many interested friends, I have been enabled to gather much valuable information about the early collections made in Australia, and their final destinations.

The Macleay Museum, Sydney, contains the finest general collection of Australian insects that exists, and is rich in types; it also contains a large series of insects from all parts of the world, among which are some historical specimens. Unfortunately here also the types of many species cannot be distinguished from their co-types, as they bear no distinctive type-labels. The entomological collections of the Macleay Museum are the accumulated gatherings of three distinguished naturalists. It was originally commenced by Alexander Macleay, who, when he left England to come to Sydney in 1825, had one of the finest and most extensive collections of insects at that time in the possession of any private individual. He added to this many Australian species, some of which still bear his labels. His son, William Sharp Macleay, inherited this collection on the death of his father in 1848, and added to it, bequeathing it to his cousin, Sir William Macleay, on his death in 1865. Sir William Macleay, to whom the foundation of the Macleay Museum as a general zoological museum is due, began to accumulate insects in 1861, when Mr. Masters went to Port Denison, Queensland, to collect for him; Masters afterwards went on several extended collecting expeditions in Queensland, South and Western Australia, and the specimens collected by him were chiefly described by Macleay, though the actual types of many of the insects were in the early days placed in the Australian Museum, Sydney. The types of those collected by me at Cairns, N. Queensland, in 1886, and at King’s Sound, N.W. Australia, 1887–8, are in the Macleay Museum, also the other Macleay types described in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W., except a few that are said to be in the Brisbane Museum. Mr. Lea informs me that some of Bates’ types of the Tenebrionidae are in the Macleay Collections. The types of all the Staphylinidae loaned for description to Olliff are in this Museum; the others described by Olliff are in the Australian Museum. In the Macleay Museum are also Skuse’s types of Australian Diptera, as described in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W., and which are distinctly marked and mounted, and in a fine state of preservation. Lea’s type-specimens of Coleoptera, described from unique specimens in this museum on loan, are in this museum; while all his other types, with the exception of a few in the National Museum in Melbourne, are in his own collections. Dr. Jefferis Turner informs me that a few of Meyrick’s type of Micro-lepidoptera are in the Macleay Museum; but Mr. Masters and I examined a number that Meyrick named for Macleay, and there is nothing to indicate that there are any types among the specimens.

Two specimens of Sawflies (Tenthredinidae) described by me, and most of the types of the Cicadidae described by Dr. Goding and myself (with the exception of those types derived from specimens loaned from the Victorian and Adelaide Museums and returned thereto) are in this museum collection; also Marsham’s types of Notoclea (Paropsis), containing many of our commonest species as described in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London in 1818, are in this collection, and also, it is said, some of Boisduval’s types.

The Australian Museum, Sydney, was founded in 1836 and incorporated by Act of Council in 1853. The first collection of insects was made by Mr. Roach of Petty’s Hotel about 1835, who presented it to the Government; they were exhibited in the “Round House” near Circular Quay, where they were placed in charge of W. S. Wall, afterwards the first Curator of the Australian Museum.

The types now in the collections contain Macleay’s Gayndah Collection obtained by G. Masters, and described by Sir William Macleay in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of N.S. Wales. Some of Macleay’s Coleoptera from Port Denison, and South and West Australian specimens also collected by Masters are said to be in the Australian Museum, but a number of the latter are said by Mr. Masters to be in the Macleay Museum.

Macleay never affixed a type-label to his specimen, and if there were a series of the same species he never indicated the type, so that it is only where there was a single specimen that we can be positive which specimen is the type; and further confusion arises as he presented many specimens to the Australian Museum from his own collections. Scott’s Lepidoptera (still kept as a separate collection) comprise the types described by him, and are the identical butterflies and moths figured in his work, “Australian Lepidoptera,” 1864.

Olliff’s types of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera described while he was the museum entomologist are in the museum collections, with the exception of the Staphylinidae previously mentioned and a few others described from Macleay Museum specimens, one or two types that went to Jansen, London, in whose collection they are now said to be, and two butterfly types said to be in South Africa.

King’s types of Coleoptera, collected by himself, and which he described in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of N.S.W., were purchased by the Trustees of this museum after his death. Many of the smaller ones are mounted in balsam on glass slips; others are pinned and carded; and though some of the types have vanished owing to insect pests, they are on the whole in fairly good condition.

Types of all the specimens described by both Skuse and Rainbow in the Records of the Australian Museum are in the collections; and also one of G. A. Waterhouse’s types (Lepidoptera) and a number of Sloane’s type Carabidae.

The National Museum, Melbourne, was formed early in 1854, and temporarily housed in the Melbourne University buildings in August, 1856, under the charge of the late Director, Professor (afterwards) Sir Frederick McCoy. The old museum situated in the University grounds was completed early in 1864, and the collections placed in it in March of that year.

The Entomological Collection was commenced about 1861 by the late William Kershaw, under whose charge it was placed with other of the zoological collections until his retirement in August, 1891. He was succeeded by his son, J. A. Kershaw, who is the present Curator of the Zoological Collections.

In the formation of the entomological collections no professional collectors were engaged, but specimens were obtained by purchase, exchange and donation from various sources. By the latter the Messrs. Kershaw were probably the largest contributors.

The collection of general entomological specimens from all parts of the world is an extensive one occupying 31 cabinets. It contains several well-known collections, of which the most important is the “Curtis Collection of British Insects,” which was purchased by the National Museum authorities in 1863. It occupies 5 large mahogany cabinets, four of which contain British Insects of all orders, among them many of Curtis’ types (described in his work on British Insects); and the fifth cabinet of 50 drawers contains a general collection of exotic insects. Nothing has been removed from this collection, which is in an excellent state of preservation, and remains exactly as Curtis left it 45 years ago. Curtis’ MS. Register or Catalogue of this collection, comprising 4 quarto volumes, is also the property of the National Museum. Some interesting notes on the Curtis Collection were published by J. J. Walker, R.N., in the Entomological Monthly Magazine, 1904.

The “Howett Collection” made by Dr. Howett, consisting of Australian Coleoptera, was bequeathed to the Melbourne University by its founder, with a condition that it must be kept intact, and nothing added to, or taken from it. It was handed over to the National Museum by the University authorities in April, 1904, on loan, together with Dr. Howett’s library of entomological works. This collection is contained in 10 cabinets, and includes a large number of types of Australian insects, principally those of Count Castelnau, in whose handwriting many of the labels attached to the insects are written.

Another large and valuable collection is that of the late Count Castelnau, embracing his general collection of Coleoptera. It occupies 5 large cabinets containing about 200 drawers. The specimens are all mounted on uniformly sized pieces of papered cork, and in a great many instances a species not in the collection is represented by a carded figure.

The South Australian Museum, Adelaide.—Mr. F. Waterhouse was the first Curator. It contains the following: Messrs. Kreusler and Odewahn’s joint collection of Coleoptera, named by Pascoe, and Mr. E. Guest’s Micro-lepidoptera named by Meyrick; these were both purchased for the museum, but the types in these collections are not noted by any special reference.

A large portion of Tepper’s original collection before 1883, and some of F. Waterhouse’s specimens, were also added to the collection.

A comparatively large number, but a small proportion of the whole of the Rev. Thos. Blackburn’s types of Coleoptera, are in this museum. A number of Mr. O. Lower’s types of Lepidoptera are also deposited here; and also all or nearly all of Mr. Tepper’s types, described chiefly in the Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia.

The Kreusler and Odewahn Collection was formed between the years 1855 and 1875, and consists chiefly of Coleoptera collected about Gawler and Blanchtown, on the Murray River, S.A. Messrs. Schulz, Bathurst, Jung and O. and P. Tepper collected about Lyndoch, South Para River, and P. Tepper later on about the Lower Murray plains, Ardrossan, Yorke’s Peninsula and the Mount Lofty Ranges. Messrs. C. A. and G. M. Wilson also collected extensively in the early days. All these collectors exchanged specimens and forwarded S. Australian insects to Europe and England, while the Messrs. Tepper sold to Berlin a large collection chiefly of Coleoptera in 1868.

The Queensland Museum, Brisbane, is not rich in types, but contains a large collection of Queensland and New Guinea insects of considerable value; but the specimens, from want of funds and a special custodian, are stowed away, and not arranged in any particular order.

The types contained in the large collection of Miskin’s Lepidoptera, purchased some years ago by the museum authorities; a few types created by Dr. Jefferis Turner; and others by Lower, are all in this collection. I understand that there are also in this collection some Australian and New Guinea types created by Mr. Tryon.

The following notes on the Australian types that are to be found in British and other collections, furnished by Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., of Oxford, and Dr. D. Sharp, of Cambridge, are very interesting. Mr. Walker says: “The Hope Collection (made by the Rev. F. W. Hope and bequeathed to the University of Oxford at his decease about 1861), in combination with that of the late Prof. J. O. Westwood, forms the basis of the now very extensive collections of insects in the University Museum. You may safely assume that all Hope’s Australian types, and the majority of those described by Westwood, are at Oxford. We have no fewer than 55 types of the Genus Stigmodera alone described by Hope. We also have a large number of insects from the collection of the late W. W. Saunders, chiefly Lepidoptera, Heterocera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, &c., and these include many types described by F. Smith, Walker, and others. The majority of Walker’s types (such as they are) are in the National Collection, which in 1896 was enriched by the purchase of Pascoe’s collection of Coleoptera, including at least 2,000 type-specimens, with a large number of Australian species among them.”

Dr. Sharp says: “We have no Australian types in the Cambridge Museum, and my own collection, containing the types of many species of Australian Coleoptera, was transferred to the British Museum a few weeks ago. The rest of my collections are also there except the Lamellicorns; these were sold by me many years ago to Mr. Rene Oberthier, of Rennes, and the types of the Australian Lamellicorns I described are consequently with him. Though Westwood’s collections are at Oxford, many things that he described from the British Museum Collections are in the British Museum. Most of Newman’s types are I believe in the British Museum. Castelnau’s Collection was sent from Australia to Paris about 40 years ago and sold there; the Carabidae were purchased by the Genoa Museum, and they have the types. The Lamellicorns were purchased by Von Lansberg, and subsequently sold by him to R. Oberthier. The Stapylinidae and Dytiscidae I bought and are now with the rest at the British Museum. R. Oberthier also possesses the Thomson types. The Cetoniidae of Janson are still in his possession. Edward Saunders’ collection of Buprestidae was purchased by the British Museum, and they have also acquired the Kerremans’ Collection of Buprestidae.”

Among the many collections of Australian insects that contain types, the following might be noticed:—