92 Transactions. 



Art. XII. — Additions to the Coleopterous Fauna of the Chatham Islands. 



By Major T. Broun, F.E.S. 



[Bead before the AncMand Institute, 22nd November, 1910.] 



In my last paper (Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1909, vol. 42, p. 306) it was shown 

 that, excluding introduced beetles, forty-five species of Coleoptera had been 

 found within the group. The number, as will be seen on referring to the 

 following list, has now been increased to 106. 



This considerable augmentation, by far the largest ever made, is the 

 result of about twenty months' collecting on Pitt Island, between June, 

 1906, and January, 1908. 



The insects were sent to me for examination in June last by Mr. E. R. 

 Waite, Curator of the Canterbury Museum, who whilst on a visit to Pitt 

 Island induced Mr. T. Hall, now residing at Methven, to devote all his 

 spare time to searching for insects. This work was carried on through- 

 out winter as well as summer, and often during the night, and Mr. Hall 

 generously acknowledges the vrilling assistance rendered by his friend Mr. 

 R. E. Paynter. 



The beetles thus secured belong to thirty different groups. Some live 

 on the sea-shore, others in solid timber, under loose bark and old logs, and 

 many frequent flowering-shrubs. 



As many of the older species were included in this collection, it may 

 be regarded as fairly representative of the coleopterous fauna of Pitt Island 

 — probably of the whole group. 



Twenty-seven species proved to be new, two being the exponents of 

 new genera ; the remaining thirty-four are common to New Zealand as well 

 as the Chatham Islands, but none indicate any close relationship to sub- 

 antarctic genera. 



The species are numbered consecutively in continuation of the system 

 inaugurated in my first paper, published in volume 41 of the " Transactions 

 of the New Zealand Institute." This m.ethod will be found very useful 

 iu labelling specimens when named, and will save time when several species 

 are alluded to in correspondence. 



As the formation of other collections in course of time may be confi- 

 dently anticipated, it has been deemed expedient to add a few suggestions 

 which, if attended to, will make the work of moimting specimens for micro- 

 scopical inspection very much easier, and far more satisfactory to all con- 

 cerned. 



Insects should never be immersed in alcohol : it makes them very 

 tough, and, if dried afterwards, very brittle. Before insects can be pro- 

 perly named and described, more especially the smaller kinds, they must 

 be mounted on cardboard with the legs and antennae fully displayed in 

 something like their natural positions. Any attempt to effect this in the 

 case of alcoholic specimens is almost sure to result in mutilation, the 

 slightest pressure of a setting-needle being sufficient to break a slender limb 

 or joint. Generally the most important parts snap oft", or will not bend at 

 all, and in the case of many weevils the rostrum cannot be got out of the 

 pectoral canal without detaching the whole thorax from the hind body. 

 Naturalists are not likely to look at such damaged specimens a second time. 



