1883.1 93 



of a remarkably fine Brenthus ?, ■which he had found running on a log ; it is a long, 

 slender, blackish-brown species, with interrupted longitudinal yellow stripes on the 

 elytra, not unlike, but much finer than, a species which I found not rarely at 

 Panama. 



15th. — Left Taa-hu-ku for Anna Maria Bay or Taiohaie, in Nuka Hira, the 

 largest of the Marquesas Islands. We arrived there next day, and as we remained 

 until the 22nd, I had a good opportunity of exploring the vicinity of the settlement, 

 on one occasion getting up among the hills to a height of 2800 feet, where, however, 

 I found but little different to what I met with in the low grounds, except some nice 

 little land-shells, and two or three nice Cossonid weevils in dead wood. The 

 general character of the vegetation here is the same as in the other islands, if any- 

 thing more luxuriant ; an introduced species of Mimosa is very abundant near the 

 settlement, and on it the half-looper larvae of Achcea melicerta, a very handsome 

 moth allied to Catocala, brown with black and white hind-wings, may be found in 

 great numbers, and are very easily reared. I added several nice moths to my collection 

 here, among them two Sphingidce {Chcerocampa erotus and Macrosila sp.), a moth 

 very like Liparis salicis, Xylophasia sp. ?, a nice Hadena (abundant in thatch), and 

 one or two other NoctucB ; Geometrce were very scarce, indeed, I observed only two 

 species, a small Boarmia and a Evpithecia, in all the islands. Pyralidce were very 

 numerous as before. 



The larva of a very handsome Hadenid (?) moth is abundant on cotton and 

 tobacco, &c., and is sometimes, I am informed, so numerous as to be a great pest. 

 Among the beetles, my best take was a very fine series of Brenthus sp., which I 

 found under bark of a log of Hibiscus, in company with two or three of a Cossonus, 

 and great numbers of very sharp-biting ants. The beetle varied immensely in size, 

 some of the $ s being only a quarter of an inch long, while some big long-headed, 

 ^s were nearly five times that length. The oceanic bug, Halobaies sp. (?), was 

 very abundant in all the harbours, and I caught a fine series with my long-handled 

 net. On the whole, I think I did fairly well in the Marquesas, although insects 

 were decidedly scarce as regards species ; indeed, I do not think I took more than 

 thirty species of Macro-Lepidoptera (including Pyra?es), and even fewer Coleoptera. 

 We received much attention and hospitality from the French resident in Nuka Hiva 

 (virtually, the governor of the Marquesas) ; among other things, he got up a grand 

 goat-hunt for us, to which nearly all the oiScers and a number of the blue jackets 

 went. About forty half-wild goats were surrounded and driven down to the water's 

 edge, where they were caught (not without some diiBculty), and taken on board the 

 ship. We lived chiefly on goat flesh for some weeks afterwards : it tui'ned out 

 by no means bad, certainly far better than salt beef, at any rate. 



I think we all enjoyed our cruise among the Marquesas Islands, and were sorry 

 to leave so soon, even for Tahiti. We passed through the north-western part of the 

 Paumotu or Low Archipelago, and saw two or three of the islands, which are most 

 curious : huge "atolls," or rings of coral, sometimes many miles in extent, enclosing 

 a large lagoon of salt water, and covered with most luxuriant vegetation, although 

 they are scarcely elevated above high-water mark. I should very much have liked 

 to land on one of them. Tahiti was reached on March 29th, and we went inside the 

 barrier reef and anchored off the town of Papiete, the capital of the island. We 



