xxii FAUNA HAWAIIENSIS 



portion of the island, and which no doubt existed as a separate island long prior to 

 the emergence of the other volcanic centres. These mountains rise to an elevation of 

 five and a half thousand feet, and on the windward side are covered from the coast-line 

 to the boggy summit with a dense and very humid forest. On this side are the large, 

 deep valleys of Waipio and Waimanu, due to erosion. 



There is no real break between the forests that clothe the different mountains of 

 Hawaii, but all are or have been in some parts continuous, so as to allow of a ready 

 passage for their denizens from one mountain to another. Doubtless, owing to the 

 destruction wrought by man and his imported domestic animals during recent years, 

 there are now large areas treeless or nearly so, where before continuous forest existed 

 and made the connection still wider. Between the Kohala mountains and Mauna Kea 

 are the uplands of Waimea, which have long been used as a pasturage for cattle to the 

 detriment of their native vegetation. Between the three great mountains Loa, Kea 

 and Hualalai is a vast arid tract reaching an elevation of over 6000 ft, of excessive 

 roughness, being traversed by many lava flows from Mauna Loa. 



The maps of the islands, which we have been permitted to reproduce by the 

 kindness of Mr Willis T. Pope, Superintendent of Public Instruction in the islands, 

 give a good general idea of the rough and broken character of the ground over which 

 most of the collector's work is done. 



A map showing the relative positions of the Islands was issued with Part i, Vol. I 

 of this work. 



As a group the Hawaiian islands are amongst the most isolated portions of land 

 surface. The main islands are placed a little within the tropic of Cancer or in the 

 same latitude as a middle strip of Mexico. They are much nearer to the North 

 American continent than any other, the coast of California being distant about 2100 

 miles, the portion of Mexico, above mentioned, being considerably more distant still. 

 On the west Hong Kong is in the same latitude. Almost south of the group, the 

 Samoan and Fijian groups, the only islands of considerable size, are 30 to 40 degrees 

 distant. Between these and the Hawaiian group lie a number of small islands, but the 

 nearest of these, Palmyra (5° 49' 04" N.), is very remote and separated by an enormous 

 depth of ocean. The extreme outlying islands (Midway, Ocean, etc.) to the N.W. of 

 the archipelago are equally separated from other lands. 



The general features of the Fauna are somewhat similar to those of Madeira and 

 the Canary islands and to New Zealand, but in details they are very different from 

 any of these. Tahiti and the Samoan group are not sufficiently well known to make 

 any comparison of much value. 



Owing to the mountainous character of the islands there is great diversity of 

 climate in different localities. The prevalence of the trade-winds through a great 

 part of the year causes much heavier precipitation on the windward side of the islands, 

 while on the lee side, though the mountains may have copious rains daily, the coastal 



