264 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



This brings us to a consideration of the relationships of the Hawaiian cephalopod 

 fauna with that of other regions and an inquiry as to which of the great Pacific areas 

 can be brought most closely into correlation with it. In Table II (p. 263) I have 

 endeavored to present in compact form«a summary of the more essential data to 

 which we must look for an answer to the question. Although admittedly our knowledge 

 is still little more than fragmentary, certain facts seem to be brought out with sufficient 

 prominence to demand consideration. Of the 24 named species listed in the first column, 

 it will be seen that 16, or about two-thirds and including all but one of the shore species, 

 are unknown from any other region. Two others may be eliminated from the discus- 

 sion as being practically cosmopolitan. Another (Symplectolcuthis oualaniensis) occurs 

 very generally throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Of the remainder four are 

 inhabitants also of the Indo-Malayan region. One species is shared with the north 

 Atlantic, but this one (Alloposus mollis) appears to be of oceanic habit, so that a wide 

 distribution is in a way to be anticipated. 



It is evident therefore that we must turn to the species which are peculiarly Hawaiian 

 in order to gain any proper idea of the true elements which enter into the composition 

 of the fauna. In one of the succeeding columns of the table I have accordingly listed 

 the species which appear to be most closely allied to these, and in yet another column 

 the regions where such analogues are known to occur. The parallel with the Indo- 

 Malayan fauna here appears very striking and again, as in the latter region, a very respect- 

 able assemblage of species possesses decided Mediterranean affinities. Indeed one genus, 

 Scoeurgus, is now known for the first time outside the bounds of the Mediterranean, and, 

 although the species from the two sources appear to be separately nameable, they are 

 nevertheless surprisingly close. Hctcroteuthis hawaiiensis is another species which finds 

 its nearest ally no nearer than the Mediterranean and here again the relationship is close. 

 The widespread stock of Polypus macropus, which ranges in great abundance from the 

 Mediterranean through the Red Sea, around southern Asia to the Malaysian Archipelago, 

 and even to Japan, with practically no change in any of its characters throughout this 

 entire area, also manages to reach the Hawaiian Islands, for it seems obvious that P. 

 ornatus, though very distinct in itself, must have had its primary origin as an isolated 

 outpost of this group. Of distinctly Indo-Malayan affinities, but not Mediterranean, are 

 Euprymna scolopes, Polypus marmoratus, Abralia astrosticta (apparently near to A. siein- 

 dachneri of the Red Sea), and perhaps Mastigoteulhis(?) famelica. Polypus marmoratus 

 appears to be allied to the common P. bimaculatus of southern and Lower California, 

 but aside from this somewhat anomalous example the fauna has little in common with 

 that of western America." 



With the Japanese fauna likewise, outside of the invading Indo-Malayan element shared 

 by both, the Hawaiian cephalopods exhibit no particular relationship. Ommastrephes 

 hawaiiensis is doubtless to be regarded as an offshoot of the same stock which gave 



o So little is at present known regarding the teuthology of the south Pacific that the Australian region has not here been con- 

 sidered as separate from the Indo-Malayan, although the reported presence of Dosidicus eif/as in those waters would tend to show 

 a certain relationship with the South American fauna. 



