MA CROLEPIDOPTERA 1 25 



Neiv Zealand. Hawaiian Islands. 



Pyralididae 2 2 



Psychidae 2 o 



Hepialidae 9 o 



All the Hawaiian families are therefore found in New Zealand, the Galleriadae 

 and Pyralididae being introduced in both alike, and 8 other families are also repre- 

 sented there, but only by a very few species, amounting altogether to 8 per cent, of 

 the total, or an average of i per cent, each, whilst the ten other native families average 

 over 9 per cent. each. The single species of Sterrhidae is an abundant Australian 

 insect, and not improbably artificially introduced thence ; the small size and weak flight 

 of members of this family may account for their not crossing wide seas. The Noto- 

 dontidae are absent from both faunas ; they are notoriously seldom seen on the wing, 

 and may therefore be habitually incapable of prolonged flight. 



Geographical Distribution of Genera and Species. 



For the consideration of this subject I shall group the genera not by their mutual 

 affinities but by their constitution, as follows : [a) wholly ' apodemic (none of these 

 contains more than two species), {b) apodemic, with one endemic species, {c) apodemic, 

 with from 2 to 6 endemic species, {d) apodemic, with from 9 to 13 endemic species, 

 {e) apodemic, with 24 to 57 endemic species, [^f) endemic, with i or 2 species, i^g) 

 endemic, with 14 to 30 species. 



{a) Apodemic genera, of one species, or of tnjo species, neither endemic. 



There are 17 of this class, comprising 22 species. 



Nine [Plodia, Ephestia, Ephestiodes, Meliphora, Euchromius, NytnpJmla, Hymenia, 

 Hellula, Pyralis), with 1 1 species, have been artificially introduced by man, mostly as 

 larvae feeding on preserved foods or cultivated plants, and are now apparently estab- 

 lished as residents ; all of them have similarly extended their range over most of the 

 warmer regions of the globe (except Ephestiodes, which is hitherto only recorded from 

 America), so that their place of origin is sometimes unknown, and is in any case 

 unimportant for the present purpose. 



Two {Heliothis, Nomophila), with 2 species, and also Spodoptera exigtia and Sphinx 

 convolvuli, are practically cosmopolitan, being found in suitable localities almost every- 

 where, and are further known to be possessed of very great powers of flight, having all 

 been met with in the open sea, sometimes many hundreds of miles from the nearest 

 land. These may have come in from any direction, though Sphinx convolvidi is 

 considered to be the American form {cingidata). 



' Endemic denotes that a species or genus is apparently confined to these islands. I define apodemic as 

 the opposite of endemic ; it signifies that a form occurs outside the islands as well as in them. 



17—2 



