INTRODUCTION cxcv 



in the mountains, and is found on Hawaii as high as 4000 ft. above the sea, in open 

 places in the forest amongst low sedges. Brachypterous forms do not seem to occur. 

 Nesomartis psajumopkila frequents sandy places, on or near the coast, living on low 

 grass, or on the ground beneath, with its nymphs. In the larger of these the head is 

 not produced far beyond the sides of the pronotum, as in the adult, but is of ordinary 

 form. The youngest nymphs are remarkable for their shining black head and thorax, 

 with white mediodorsal line. The species will probably be found elsewhere, and prove 

 to be a natural immigrant. 



The species of the genus Nysius form a large and important part of the Hawaiian 

 Heteroptera, and no doubt many remain to be discovered, the disgusting odour that 

 they emit rendering them unpleasant objects to collect. Some of the species occur in 

 vast numbers. A small tree will sometimes furnish a home for hundreds of individuals, 

 adult and nymphal, of A^. saundersi, and others are equally common. It is not clear to 

 what extent the different species are attached to particular plants. Some, which I had ' 

 supposed to be confined to a single species of tree, I have on another occasion found 

 in numbers on a totally different plant, belonging to some family far removed from the 

 other. Some seem habitually to frequent for choice the dead or decaying branches of 

 the tree they inhabit, others the flowers, and many the leaves or any other part. Many 

 frequent low plants or ferns. No doubt there are numerous species that are very 

 closely allied one to another, and as there is manifestly very great variation in the 

 individuals of some of the species, a thorough knowledge of the genus in the islands 

 will require prolonged study. It is likely that the actual differences between mere 

 variations of some species will prove to be apparently much greater than the true 

 specific differences between the most nearly related, but really distinct, species. The 

 variable N. blackbtirni wa.?, noticed at Kilauea, Hawaii, feeding in little groups of several 

 together on the droppings of mynah birds. These birds at the time were feeding 

 on the fruit of an imported raspberry. Some species are at times met with living 

 gregariously at the base of the leaves of Freycinetia like the Mett-argae. The 

 Hawaiian series exhibit great differences in important characters in their extreme 

 forms. It is possible that one or two may have been imported with foreign plants. 



Merragata hebroides, found on ponds near Honolulu and elsewhere, occurs also 

 high up in the mountains of the other islands, and is known also on the American 

 continent, being apodemic. 



Nabidae. — Represented in the islands by a large number of species of the genus 

 Reduvio/us, one of which, R. innotatus^ White, I am told by Mr Kirkaldy, is apodemic 

 and widely distributed. The other species form two groups, each of which contains 

 numerous closely allied forms, but the connection between these two groups is not 



' Since identified as R. capsiformis. 



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