INTRODUCTION cxiii 



The Dermestidae have three foreign genera with five species ; three genera with 

 2 1 species are endemic. 



The Cucujidae have lo foreign species in seven genera; there are lo native 

 species in two genera. 



The Colydiidae are represented by three foreign species, each in a different genus, 

 and a single endemic genus with one species. 



The NitiduHdae have six foreign species in two genera, and 136 native ones in 

 13 genera. 



The Histeridae have five foreign species in three genera, and 34 native in a 

 single genus. 



The Staphylinidae have 24 foreign forms included in 16 genera, and 95 true 

 members of the fauna in 13 genera. 



The Carabidae have six probably foreign forms in three genera, and 204 endemic 

 species in 36 genera. 



If we remove from the above families the introduced species and the few natural 

 immigrants, either known to be found or likely to occur elsewhere, and add these to 

 the 71 species found in families that contain only foreign forms, we find that the 

 foreign element consists of 181 species distributed in 131 genera. The truly native 

 fauna on the other hand consists of 1107 species distributed in 102 genera. Thus 

 in the foreign element these genera contain rather less than i -4 species to each genus 

 on the average, while in the other group the species are lO'S to the genus. Perhaps, 

 however, the few certain natural immigrants should be rather added to the truly native 

 species, but as these immigrants number in all less than a dozen, the striking contrast 

 between the natural and imported coleopterous fauna would be only slightly changed 

 thereby. 



We must also notice an essential difference between the native genera and the 

 imported ones. Thus the latter are rarely or never closely related one to another, 

 while many of the former are formed for species which are clearly closely related to 

 other endemic species, so that the genera are frequently very closely allied to one 

 another, and in fact difficult to distinguish by trenchant characters. For instance, 

 many of the genera of Carabidae are excessively closely allied and the distinguishing 

 characters are not always constant. The three allied genera of Cerambycidae, 

 Plagithmysus, CallUJunysus and Clytarius, contain species that show characters 

 connecting one with another. 



In some of the genera the species are remarkably restricted in their range over 

 the islands. This is notably the case with the Cerambj'cidae above mentioned, for 

 not one species is known to inhabit even two of the islands. The fact is the more 

 remarkable as these beetles possess strong organs of flight and in fact fly strongly 

 with the wind. Moreover they could also be carried in the larval and pupal state 

 from one island to another in floating trees or their limbs. The Carabidae and 



F. H. I. p 



