INTRODUCTION clxxiii 



Very few species, however, are found outside the belt of dense forest. A. ritfcscens 

 occurs on the lowlands, as well as in the mountains, and may even be seen in Honolulu. 

 W'e have found the females in numbers fluttering slowly about the foliage of Kukui 

 trees at dusk, and ovipositing on these. The male is one of those remarkable for the 

 extraordinary structure of the costa of the front wings. It and several others became 

 numerous in the upland cane-fields of Hawaii during the worst period of the attack of 

 the sugar-cane leaf-hopper {Perkinsiella), their larvae preying on this pest. No doubt 

 in the forests they likewise destroy the endemic leaf-hoppers, though as above stated 

 we have seen them sucking caterpillars of the genus Scotorythra. Many of the species 

 of Anomaloclwysa are remarkable for their variability in colour, and in characters of 

 neuration. This variability renders the distinction of the species more difficult, so that 

 the number of these may be subject to some correction, though probably the error is 

 not great. The females lack some striking characters shown by the males, and are 

 the more difficult to determine. Neither any of the species of Anonialochrysa nor 

 Chrysopa microphya possess the offensive odour characteristic of some of the Chrysopae 

 of other countries. Certainly Anomalochrysa is one of the most interesting components 

 of the Neuropterous fauna, and an exact study of the variations of some of the species 

 would be very desirable. Unlike Chrysopa microphya the larvae of Anonialochrysa 

 are quite bare, not covering themselves with ddbris nor with the skins of their prey as 

 the other does. 



Myrmeleonidae. — The two species of Formicaleo appear to be allied to one 

 another, but to have rather different habits. F. perj'urus, the smaller species, is, 

 doubtless, much rarer than it formerly was, and has entirely disappeared from some of 

 the localities, where it formerly occurred. I have never myself met with this insect, 

 but I once found a solitary larva, which I suspect belonged to it, beneath a stone on 

 the edge of the stream in the lao valley, Maui. It might almost have been said to be 

 actually in the water. Three-quarters of a century ago this insect appears to have 

 occurred near Honolulu, probably in the Nuuanu valley. The larger ant-lion, F. ivilsoni, 

 is a common insect on the driest lava-fields of Hawaii, where there is a scanty vegetation 

 or the surface is barren. It occurs near the coast as well as at elevations of from 

 4000 — 6000ft. above the sea. It is readily disturbed, as one walks along in such 

 localities, by day, usually settling down again after no very long flight. We have seen 

 it taking more extensive and higher flights at nightfall. The habits of the larva are not 

 known, but probably it lives beneath stones or in cavities of the porous lava, as no 

 burrows have been noticed where the species is common. It cannot prey on ants, for 

 these do not exist in the uplands, where the ant-lion abounds. Some of its haunts are 

 so barren that one may well wonder what insects are numerous enough to support the 

 many larvae that must occur. 



