clxvi FAUNA HAWAIIENSIS 



the microscopic vegetable growths. They are parasitized by the Braconids Protapan- 

 teles hazvaiiensis and Microdjis haivaiicola and also by the Chalcid Ompliale vietallica, 

 which is so common on leaf-mining Tineina. Species of the Miscogasterid genus 

 Ncolelaps are also bred from wood affected by Hyposmocoiua, but it is not definitely 

 known whether they attack these caterpillars or other wood-eating insects found with 

 them. I believe they are attached to the Coleoptera. The moths are often caught by 

 the little fan-tailed flycatchers {Chasienipis) and by the native dragonflies. Though the 

 chief home of Hyposmoconia is in the true forest-belt, some occur both below and above 

 this belt. Even in the dry lowlands a few kinds are found, their larvae feeding on the 

 low forms of vegetable life, growing on rocks and tree-trunks. On the wet side of the 

 islands a once numerous lowland fauna has been, no doubt, well-nigh exterminated 

 by the ant Plieidole. The habits of the allied monotypic genera, Dysphoria and Biiba- 

 loceras, are unknown. The former comes freely to light at night. Eiipei-issiis cristahis, 

 the sole exponent of its genus, is very common in the larval state in the dead stems of 

 Freycinetia. Hyperdasys with four and Semnopj'epia with three species are found hiding 

 amongst masses of dead fern-fronds or are attracted by light. All these genera, like 

 Hyposmocoma, are endemic. Diplosara lignivora is a very common insect in the larval 

 state, the cases sometimes being found by scores or hundreds beneath the bark of dead 

 and fallen trees. The moth is freely attracted by light. Blastohasis inana is a foreign 

 species and has been bred from stored yams imported from the Orient, though it 

 had previously become established in Honolulu. Endrosis lactella and Oecia tnaculata 

 are imported domestic insects, the latter parasitized frequently by Protapanteles. 

 Mapsidius with three species is an endemic genus, the habits being unknown. The 

 moths appear to be very rarely met with, the very conspicuous M. quadridentata was 

 found in the bed of a mountain torrent, having been washed out by the heavy rains. The 

 very variable Prays fulvocanelhis is a common insect, often disturbed from the branches 

 of trees. It is a true forest insect and almost certainly endemic. Phitella maciilipennis 

 is a pest amongst cabbages and other Cruciferae, and is of course introduced, there 

 being no endemic Cruciferous plants in Hawaii. P. albovenosa, if it has the same habits, 

 will also prove to be an importation. The first-named species is much parasitized by 

 Limnermm po/ynesiale, and it is possible that this will prove to be the same as the 

 Limneriiim recorded as attacking the cabbage pest in North America, of which I have 

 seen no detailed description. 



The Hyponomeutidae with their 276 species are such an important element of the 

 fauna that the following summary is of interest. Oecia, Blastobasis and Endrosis with 

 single species, which are domestic or semidomestic, are introductions by man. So too is 

 Phitella cruciferartmi and probably also its congener. Stagmatophora has three species 

 that are almost certainly introductions, and it is quite likely that the fourth may also be 

 foreign. Leaving out of consideration these five genera with their nine species, there 

 remain 15 genera with 267 species that must be considered endemic. Prays with one 



