174 



PSYCHE. 



[March, iijoi 



several times. Extensive zoological 

 collections were made especially of 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, spiders and in- 

 sects. These collections were placed in 

 the hands of specialists for study, and 

 the papers based on the material are 

 being published in the current volume 

 of the Proceedings of the Washington 

 Academy of Science. 



The most important invertebrate col- 

 lections are those of the spiders, the 

 biting bird-lice (Mallophaga) and of 

 long series of the Acridid genera, Schis- 

 tocerca, Sphingonotus and Halmenus. 

 In addition the insect collections include 

 other Orthoptera, Diptera, Hymenop- 

 tera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemip- 

 tera, Thysanura, Isoptera and Odonata. 



The Arachnida, which have been 

 studied by Nathan Banks, include 650 

 specimens, " by far the largest collection 

 ever made '' in these islands, represent- 

 ing 48 species, of which 39 are Ara- 

 neida, 6 are Arthrogastra and 3 are 

 Acarina. The thirty-nine species of 

 spiders represent fifteen families ; 

 twenty-five of these spiders are new spe- 

 cies, twenty-one being already known. 

 The collection includes all of the spe- 

 cies except two ever taken on these 

 islands. From his study of this collec- 

 tion Banks concludes that the Arachni- 

 dan fauna of the Galapagos Islands is 

 more truly related to that of the Central 

 American region than to that of any 

 other portion of the earth. A very 

 valuable part of the paper on these 

 spiders is the extensive ecological notes 

 made by Mr. Snodgrass during his col- 

 lecting. 



The long series of the interesting 

 Galapagos species of Schistocera, Sph- 

 ingonotus and Halmenus representing 

 all of the islands of the group in which 

 the species are to be found have been 

 carefully studied by Mr. Snodgrass and 

 his interesting conclusions are contained 

 in a paper suggestively entitled " On the 

 varieties of the Orthopterous genera 

 Schistocerca, Sphingonotus and Hal- 

 menus on the Galapagos Islands, and a 

 discussion of their inter-relationships, 

 together with a consideration of the 

 relative geological ages of the various 

 islands of the Archipelago." The other 

 Orthoptera comprising twenty-three spe- 

 cies have been worked by Prof. Jerome 

 McNeill, who finds seven new species in 

 the collection. 



'l"he insects of other orders, except 

 the Mallophaga, have been studied by 

 the specialists of the U. S. Division of 

 Entomology, under the direction of Dr. 

 L. O. Howard. Mr. Coquiilet deter- 

 mines twenty-eight species of Diptera 

 representing twenty-three genera, and 

 sixteen families! Of these five species 

 are new ; seven are peculiar to, or at 

 least were described from the islands, 

 and all of the remaining sixteen are 

 species known from South or Central 

 America, the West Indies and warmer 

 parts of North America. In the Hemip- 

 tera Mr. Heidemann finds twenty-four 

 species of which two are new, and five 

 previously recorded only from the islands. 

 In this collection are two species of the 

 interesting ocean surface genus Halo- 

 bates. In the other orders a small num- 

 ber of new species is described. 



