Australian insects

In making out a bibliography of books and the more important papers on our insects, it is impossible to notice the hundreds of scientific papers scattered through English and foreign proceedings and transactions of learned Societies. There are, however, a number of books describing Australian insects which do not come under this category that an Australian entomologist may yet want to know something about. Like all such lists, this must be more or less incomplete, but it may give the student some idea of where and what to look for.

“Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales.”

Commenced in 1890 on the creation of the Department of Agriculture, it contains many papers on Australian Entomology, with descriptions of new species by Messrs. Olliff, Fuller, and Froggatt.

Anderson, E. and Spry, F. P.

Victorian Butterflies, and how to collect them, Part I., complete with index, Melbourne 1893. Victorian Butterflies, Part II., 1894. A useful little work published in pamphlet form, 130 pages, illustrated with a number of very good wood-cuts.

Australian Museum, Records of.

Commenced in 1890–91, Vols. I.-VI. (1905), Sydney; issued in numbered pamphlet form at irregular intervals. Among other scientific descriptions are papers on entomology by both Messrs. Skuse and Rainbow.

Bennett, Dr. G.

“Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australia,” London 1860. Among general natural history there is a considerable amount of information on our insects.

Brenchley, J. L.

“Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. Curaçoa among the South Sea Islands in 1865,” London 1873. Natural History Notes, Insects, p. 456. Among the insects described and figured in colours are Australian Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera.

Donovan, E.

Insects of New Holland, London 1825.

This rare work contains the original descriptions, accompanied by very fine coloured plates, of a number of our common insects of all orders. The specimens from which the drawings were made were chiefly collected by Sir Joseph Banks. A copy of this book is in the library of the Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, and another in the Public Library, Sydney.

Entomological Society of N.S. Wales (Transactions).

Vols. I.-II., 1866–1873, Sydney.

These Transactions contain a number of papers by Macleay, Scott, King and Schrader, with original descriptions of new species.

Fabricius, J. C.

Systema Entomologiae, 1775.

He described a number of Australian insects from the Banksian Cabinet. These had been collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander during Cook’s voyages. The collections were afterwards presented to the British Museum.

French, C.

Handbook of the Destructive Insects of Victoria.

Part I., 1891; Part II., 1893; Part III., 1900; Melbourne. Each part is complete in itself, containing many coloured plates and popular descriptions of injurious insects.

Gray, G. R.

The Entomology of Australia, Part I. Monograph of the Family Phasmidae, 1833; British Museum.

This contains coloured plates and descriptions of all our known species up to that date.

Griffiths, Edward.

The Animal Kingdom. Insecta, Vol. I., 1832; Vol. II., 1844. With supplementary additions to each order by Griffiths and Pidgeon, and notices of new genera and species by Gray, with 132 plates. A number of Australian species are described, and some figured.

Horn Expedition (edited by Prof. Baldwin Spencer).

Part II., Zoology, 1896.

In this are a number of papers on the insects collected by the members of the Horn Exploring Expedition in Central Australia. Blackburn and Sloane described Coleoptera; Lower, Lepidoptera; Tepper, Orthoptera; Kirby and Froggatt, Hymenoptera.

Kirby, W.

“Descriptions of several new species of Insects collected in New Holland by Robert Brown.” (Linnean Transactions, Vol. XII., 1818.)

These insects were collected during Flinders’ voyage. Thirty-three species are described, and thirteen figured on plate 23.

Kirby, W.

“A Century of Insects.” (Linnean Transactions, Vol. XII., 1818.)

In this paper he described 17 new species, and made 4 new genera.

Leach, Dr. W. E.

“Zoological Miscellanies.” “Being descriptions of new and interesting animals, illustrated with coloured figures drawn from Nature by R. P. Noddes.” 3 Vols., London. Vol. I., 1814; Vol. II., 1815; Vol. III., 1817.

A number of Australian insects are figured and described for the first time in these volumes.

Lewin, John W.

“Podromus, etc. Natural History of Lepidopterous Insects of N.S. Wales. Collected, engraved, and faithfully painted by J. W. Lewin.” London 1805.

A manuscript copy of this work with the original coloured drawings by Lewin entitled “Insects of Australia,” 1803, is in the library of the Linnean Society of N.S. Wales.

Linnean Society of N.S. Wales, Proceedings.

Commencing in 1871, an annual volume of four parts has been published every year since. These proceedings contain a great number of entomological papers by the leading entomologists of Australasia, among which are Messrs. Macleay, Meyrick, Olliff, Blackburn, Sloane, Skuse, Masters, Froggatt, Lea, Lower, Turner, and Waterhouse.

Macleay, W. S.

“Catalogue of Insects collected by Captain King, R.N.; 192 species of Annulosa; (188 insects and 4 arachnida) pages 438–469.” Eighty-one of the species are new. This is an appendix to Captain Phillip King’s “Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia performed between the years 1818 and 1822.” 2 Vols., London, 1827.

Marsham, Thos.

“Description of Notoclea, a new genus of Coleopterous Insects from New Holland.” (Transactions Linnean Society, Vol. IX., p. 283, pls. 24–25, 1818.) These insects are now placed in the Genus Paropsis. They were probably collected in the vicinity of Sydney.

Mccoy, F.

“Podromus of Zoology of Victoria,” Decade I.-XX., 1878–1890. In these memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, McCoy figured and described a number of Australian insects.

Masters, G.

“Catalogue of the Described Coleoptera of Australia,” Parts I.-VII. (Proceedings of the Linnean Society N.S. Wales, Vol. X., 1885; Vol. II., new series, 1887.) Though this originally appeared in the proceedings of this Society, so many sets of reprints have been sold that it may be classed as a separate work. Two supplements have since been published (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.), but they only deal with the first families.

Miskin, W. H.

“Synonymical Catalogue of the Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera (Butterflies) of Australia, with full Bibliographical references, including descriptions of new species.” Annals of the Queensland Museum, No. 1, Brisbane 1891.

New Zealand Institute, Transactions.

The publication of the Transactions of this Society commenced in 1867, and are published annually.

The most important articles dealing with Australian entomology are those of the late W. M. Maskell on Australian Coccidae, which commenced in 1889 and continued till his death in 1898.

Olliff, A. Sidney.

“Australian Butterflies. A brief account of the native families, with a chapter on collecting and preserving insects, with numerous wood-cuts.”

A pamphlet published by the Natural History Association of N.S. Wales; Sydney 1889. This is now offered for sale by the N.S.W. Naturalists’ Club, Sydney.

Royal Society of South Australia, Transactions.

The Transactions commenced in 1878, and are published annually.

They contain a number of entomological papers by Blackburn and by Lea (Coleoptera), Tepper (Orthoptera), Lower (Lepidoptera), and other writers.

Scott, A. W.

“Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations,” Vol. I., published by the author; London, 1864; 9 plates; Vol. II., Parts 1–2. Edited and revised by A. S. Olliff and Mrs. Forde. This was published by the Trustees of the Australian Museum, who purchased the drawings and MS. from the Scott family. There is still a considerable amount of unpublished MS. and drawings in the possession of the Trustees.

Schreibers, C.

“Descriptions of some singular Coleopterous Insects.” (Linnean Transactions, Vol. VI., p. 185, pls. 19–21, 1802.) Among these are a number of large showy Australian beetles. Their exact localities are not known.

Tryon, H.

“Report on Insect and Fungus Pests.” (Queensland Department of Agriculture, Report I., 1889.) In this important report on injurious insects a few new species are described, and the habits and life histories of many well-known species given.

“Victorian Naturalist, The.”

The Journal and Magazine of the Field Naturalists’ Club of Victoria. The first volume was issued in 1884–85. A number of original descriptions of insects, catalogues, and notes in general are given in the pages of this Journal by Messrs. Kershaw, Lower, Lyell, Billinghurst, and others.

Westwood, Prof. J. O.

“Thesaurus Entomologicus Oxoniensis,” Oxford, 1875. “Illustrations of new, rare, or interesting insects for the most part contained in the Collections presented to the University of Oxford by the Rev. T. W. Hope. With 40 coloured plates and with drawings by the author.” Among these are some original descriptions of Australian species.

“Arcana Entomologica,” London 1841–5, 2 vols. Among other exotic forms this describes a number of Australian species and some are illustrated by means of coloured plates.

Waterhouse, G. A.

“Catalogue of the Rhopalocera of Australia.” “Memoirs of the New South Wales Naturalists’ Club,” No. I., 1903. This pamphlet brings the list of Australian butterflies up to date.

White, Adam.

“Notes on some Insects from King George’s Sound.” This is an appendix to Captain Gray’s “Travels in N.W. and West Australia,” Vol. II., 1841. This contains the original descriptions of a number of insects collected by Captain Gray and numerous wood-cuts.

Zoological Record.

Commencing in 1864, the Insecta was edited at first by Dallas, afterwards by Rye, and is now edited by Sharp. Contains a list of all genera and species of insects described during each year. All the Australian species described since 1864 are listed.