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:--
BLACKBURN.--Coleoptera; a very large collection containing
many types created and described by the Rev. T. Blackburn,
of Adelaide, S. Australia, who informs me that “A few of the
types are in Mr. C. French’s collection, a comparatively large
number (but small in proportion to the whole) are in the South
Australian Museum.” The rest are in his own collections.
LEA.--Coleoptera: Another extensive collection from all parts
of Australia and Tasmania is that of Mr. A. M. Lea, Hobart,
containing a great number of the owner’s type specimens. A few
of Mr. Lea’s types are in the Macleay and National Museums; one
or two in Mr. A. Simson’s collection in Launceston; and others
are in Mr. French’s collection in Melbourne.
SLOANE.--Coleoptera: This collection consists chiefly of
Cicindelidae and Carabidae, and contains nearly all the types
created and described by the owner, Mr. T. G. Sloane, Moorila,
N.S. Wales. Some of his types however are in the Lea Collection;
others in French’s; one in Mr. F. Taylor’s (Sydney), and a
few, as previously mentioned, are in the Australian Museum
collections.
FRENCH.--Coleoptera: The owner, Mr. C. French, Melbourne, has
never described any species himself; but his present collection,
of which the Scaritidae is a very important part, contains
many types described by other entomologists. During the last
twenty years French made and bought several large collections
of beetles, which he informs me have been dispersed in the
following manner. “My first collection went to Leyden purchased
by Count Lansberg. My second collection also to Leyden purchased
by Van de Poll.” Among the collections he purchased were
Atwell’s W. Australian beetles, the Diggles Collection, and the
last of the Du Boulay’s Coleoptera.
LYELL.--Lepidoptera: The owner, Mr. G. Lyell, Gisborne,
Victoria, has one of the finest general collections of
Lepidoptera in Australia; it contains a number of types of both
Messrs. Lower and Turner, and also one of his own types.
LOWER.--Lepidoptera: This contains the majority of the types
created by the owner, Mr. O. Lower, Broken Hill, New South Wales.
LUCAS.--Lepidoptera: This is a general collection containing
most of the types created by the owner, Dr. Lucas, Brisbane,
Queensland.
MEYRICK.--Lepidoptera: This is an immense collection of
Micro-lepidoptera chiefly, containing many thousands of types
created by Mr. E. Meyrick, Wilts., England.
TURNER.--Lepidoptera: This collection is located in Brisbane,
Queensland, and is the property of Dr. Jefferis Turner. It
contains most of the owner’s types, but some of his types
are in the Lyell, Illidge, and Retter collections, and the
Queensland Museum.
WATERHOUSE.--Lepidoptera: This collection comprises a very
extensive series of Australian butterflies, in which are nearly
all the types of the owner, Mr. G. A. Waterhouse, Sydney.
FROGGATT.--Miscellaneous: It contains all the owner’s types of
Psyllidae, Termitidae, Neuroptera, most of the Coccidae, and a
few of Hymenoptera and Diptera. It also contains many co-types
of Prof. Forel’s Formicidae, Dr. Andre’s Mutillidae, and Dr.
Horvath’s Hemiptera.
ILLIDGE.--Miscellaneous: I do not think that Mr. Illidge, of
Brisbane, Queensland, has created any types, but his collection
contains types, chiefly of Lepidoptera, described by Dr. Lucas
and Dr. Turner.
CARTER.--Coleoptera: This is one of the latest collections of
Australian beetles, and belongs to Mr. H. J. Carter, Sydney. He
has described a few Tenebrionidae, the types of which are in
this collection.
MASKELL.--Coccidae: This collection (Coccidae, Psyllidae and
Aleurodidae), made by the late Mr. W. M. Maskell, New Zealand,
contains a very valuable series of his types of Coccidae,
Psyllidae and Aleurodidae from Australia. It was, on the owner’s
death, sold to the New Zealand Government.
PUBLICATIONS DEALING WITH AUSTRALIAN ENTOMOLOGY.
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.)