320 ISLAND LIFE 



minute insects of certain groujDS could ever reach the islands 

 by natural means, and that these, already highly speciaUsed 

 for certain defined modes of life, could only develop 

 slowly into slightly modified forms of the original tjrpes. 

 Some of the groups, however, are considered by Dr. Sharp 

 to be very ancient generalised forms, especially the peculiar 

 family Aglycyderidse, wdiich he looks upon as being 

 " absolutely the most primitive of all the known forms of 

 Coleojitera, it being a synthetic form linking the isolated 

 Rhynchophagous series of families w'ith the Clavicorn series. 

 About thirty species are known in the Hawaiian Islands, 

 and they exhibit much difference inter sd' A few remarks 

 on each of the more important of the families w^ll serve to 

 indicate their probable mode and period of introduction into 

 the islands. 



The Carabidae consist chiefly of seven peculiar genera of 

 Anchomenini comprising fifty-one species, and several 

 endemic species of Bembidiin^e. They are highly peculiar 

 and are all of small size, and may have originally reached 

 the islands in the crevices of the drift w^ood from N.W. 

 America which is still thrown on their shores, or, more 

 rarely, by means of a similar drift from the N.- Western 

 islands of the Pacific.^ It is interesting to note that 

 peculiar species of the same groups of Carabidse are found 

 in the Azores, Canaries, and St, Helena, indicating that 

 they j^ossess some special facilities for transmission across 

 wude oceans and for establishing themselves upon oceanic 

 islands. The Staphylinidas present many peculiar species 

 of know^n genera. Being still more minute and usually 

 more ubiquitous than the Carabidse, there is no difficulty in 

 accounting for their presence in the islands by the same 

 means of dispersal. The Nitidulida^, Ptinidse, and Ciodida? 

 being very small and of varied habits, either the perfect 

 insects, their eggs or larvse, may have been introduced 

 either by water or wind carriage, or through the agency of 

 birds. The Curculionidse, being w^ood bark or nut borers, 

 would have considerable facilities for transmission by 

 floating timber, fruits, or nuts ; and the eggs or larvae of the 



^ See Hildebrand's Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. Introduction, p. 

 xiv. 



