XXX FAUNA HAWAIIENSIS 



Herein probably nineteen-twentieths of the endemic species now existing have their 

 home. Here will be found all the genera and species of Passerine birds and nearly all 

 of the land Mollusca, especially the Achatinellidae. Very rarely do these latter pass 

 above the 4000 ft. line above sea-level and then only in the case of a few species of one 

 or two genera or subgenera. Other creatures appear similarly to keep within certain 

 bounds as to elevation, the crickets of the genus Paratrigonidmin and Banza [Brachy- 

 metopa) rarely passing the line just mentioned in spite of the continuity of the forest 

 upwards. Unless the woods have been opened up by man or cattle, wasps fail to 

 establish themselves in the wettest and densest of these. In some localities xerophilous 

 insects and plants pass through dense and wet forests by means of the recent bare and 

 open lava flows, which cannot retain moisture. 



Above the forest-line on the highest mountains in the open country there is an 

 insect fauna of species peculiar to the region, but it is very meagre as compared with 

 that of the forest immediately below. This could scarcely be otherwise considering 

 the limited character of the flora and the fact that so many of the insects are strictly 

 attached to arboreal plants. Nevertheless, it is now a much more productive country 

 than most of the open region below the forest, for the reason that its fauna has not 

 been destroyed by introduced predators. In particular its species of Carabid beetles 

 remain abundant up to an elevation of nearly 10,000 ft. 



Wherever the soil and other conditions are suitable a great deal of the lowlands 

 and lower mountain slopes are given up to the cultivation of sugar cane, which on the 

 dry side of the islands is grown under irrigation, but in wet districts usually finds 

 sufficient moisture in the rainfall. For the sugar plantations of dry districts water is 

 procured either from the mountain streams directly, or by tunneling in the mountains, 

 or by pumping from artesian wells on the lowlands or at low elevations. Where cane 

 is not grown either for lack of water or other reasons, the land is often overrun with 

 cattle both above and below the forest and in many cases the forest itself is invaded. 

 Fortunately now that it is realized how cattle inevitably destroy all Hawaiian forests 

 and cause the drying up of the watersheds, on which the entire prosperity of the islands 

 depends, large areas of woodland have been reserved and all cattle excluded. Though 

 this exclusion has not been carried out nearly as rigidly as one might wish yet there is 

 reason to believe that what has been done and may still be done in this matter will 

 preserve a great part of the endemic fauna and flora for future generations. Only the 

 small islands of Kahoolawe and Niihau are beyond redemption so far as native vege- 

 tation is concerned. 



Leaving out of consideration all foreign plants, whether imported by man or 

 naturally immigrant, the lack of conspicuous flowering plants is a most striking feature 

 not only of the forest but of the open country. Were it not for the natural immigrant, 

 Metrosiderus polytnorpha, the chief constituent of the forests, the latter would be 

 sombre indeed. This tree with its abundant red flowers, when, as is often the case, it 



