INTRODUCTION clxxix 



A. asteliac, A. oa/mensis, and others) deposit their eggs amongst the leaves of various 

 plants which usually retain some moisture at the base, where they clasp the stem. 

 Such plants are the climbing leie {Freycinetia) and the liliaceous Astelia. Here the 

 nymphs, which are short and stout as compared with some of the slender stream-loving 

 species, are found in numbers, those of several sizes often living in company. In wet 

 weather, when a little water may collect at the bases of the leaves of the Astelia, we 

 have noticed that the nymphs will often be found to have crawled half-way up the leaf, 

 as if they actually disliked the wet ! Both the Astelia and Freycinetia being favourite 

 habitats of a number of native insects, it is probable that these nymphs fare fully as 

 well as those frequenting the water. Thus the bases of these same leaves, and the 

 decaying rubbish that accumulates there, are the haunts and breeding-places of various 

 Nitidulidae and Carabidae, of small Diptera and their Hymenopterous parasites, of 

 Lepidopterous larvae, of Hemiptera and other insects, as well as of others which 

 casually seek shelter, and of the young of small land Molluscs. In consequence of their 

 habits, these species of Agrion are frequently found in places quite remote from streams 

 or standing water. The caudal appendages of the nymphs and the mask are much 

 shorter than in some of the water-frequenting species, though there is much difference 

 between some of the latter themselves in this respect. 



The food of the adult Agrions consists to a large extent of small moths. We 

 have also seen them take daddy-long-legs (Limnobiinae) and leaf-hoppers, and no doubt 

 they prey on any small insect that flies by. The larger species, A. oceanictim, etc., not 

 infrequently prey on the smaller, and themselves are devoured by the large endemic, 

 Anax streniius, and the immigrant, A. Junius. On one occasion I caught an Anax 

 jutmis devouring a male of Agrion oceanicum, which itself still retained hold of the 

 small and delicate species, A. leptodemas, partially eaten. Agrion blackburni has been 

 found devouring A. nigrohamatum, a species of considerable size, though much more 

 slender than itself. 



Considering the apparent scarcity of food, owing to the absence from the mountain 

 streams and pools of more fragile water insects, such as Ephemeridae, Perlidae, 

 Culicidae, etc., the abundance of the Agrions is quite remarkable. 



To what extent the species of Neuroptera (s.l.), at present known only from a 

 single island, are really confined to one, is at present in many cases uncertain, owing 

 to the fact of their rarity. There is little doubt that the endemicity of the Kauaian 

 species is in most cases real, for though the dragon-flies of Oahu have been much 

 collected, yet of the lo Agrion known from Kauai only two (which are generally 

 distributed over all the islands) have been found on the neighbouring island. Other- 

 wise the species of Agrion are frequently of wide distribution over the islands. Thus 

 Oahu has four species (40 per cent.) endemic, and ranks next to Kauai, while Molokai, 

 Maui, and Hawaii ' have each but one species endemic, and Lanai has none. 



^ The species {A. nesiotes) supposed to be peculiar to Hawaii is now known from Maui. 



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