.1002 ON A COLLECTION FROM NORFOLK ISLAND INSECTA, 



Australian Continent and are consequently recorded from wrong 

 localities ; the descriptions too are scattered in various publica- 

 tions, many of them difficult of access. 



With regard to the zoo-geography of the island I would remark 

 that, as far as the insects are concerned, all the evidence points to 

 a near affinity to the Australian sub-region. Although admitting 

 the preponderance of Australian types, Mr. Wallace,* relying 

 upon the evidence afforded by its bird-fauna, considers Norfolk 

 Island, as well as Lord Howe Island, to belong to the New 

 Zealand subregion chiefly on account of the jDresenco of certain New 

 Zealand genera which are incapable of long flights. Among the 

 Coleoptei-a the most conspicuous genera — Lamprima, Chiroplatt/s, 

 Melobasis, Toxeutes — are all characteristically Australian, and 

 Metisopus, the only endemic genus as yet described, is cei-tainly 

 allied to Australian groups. In fact the only typical New Zea- 

 land form is Xyloteles, a genus of longicorns, which is represented 

 by two closely allied species. The occurrence of Etiicodes, a 

 remarkable New Caledonian form, is particularly suggestive, and 

 the presence of two apparently endemic species of Cossonidse is 

 also interesting as it goes to prove that the tendency of the family 

 for insular habitats, so noticeable in the fauna of the Atlantic 

 islands, is also observable in the Pacific ; that islands afi^ord condi- 

 tions especially favourable to the development of these insects 

 appeal's to be undoubted. 



COLEOPTERA. 



The following is a complete list of the Coleoptera of which I 

 have authentic information ; those not represented in Mr. 

 Millington's collection are distinguished by an asterisk : — 



CARABID^. 



Chlaenius peregrinus. 



Chlaenius peregrinus, Laferte, Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1851, 

 p. 247. 



♦Geographical Distribution of Animals, Vol. I., p. 453. 



