18 LORD HOWE ISLAND. 



Witli regard to the affinities of the bird fauna of Lord Howe, Dr. E. P, 

 Eamsay, in 1883, wrote as follows*: — " It will be seen how closely its avifauna 

 approaches that of New South Wales on the one hand, and in two important 

 particulars that of the New Zealand region on the other. The genera found in 

 the New Zealand region, and not in the Australian, are Notornis, Ocydromus, 

 Aplonis. All the other genera are represented in New South Wales by the 

 same or allied species, there being of the whole avifauna only nine species, 

 as far as it is at present known, peculiar to the island." 



Beptilia. — Mr. Corrie, who wrote in 1878,t states that neither snakes nor 

 lizards are known on Lord Howe Island, but in this statement he is to some 

 extent wrong. Snakes are certainly unknown, but this important sub- 

 kingdom is certainly represented by the Lacertilia. We suceeded in 

 obtaining two of the three forms recorded, but no additional ones were 

 captured. 



The Geckonida? are represented by PhyUodactylus Guentheri. Boulenger,]; 

 and Geliyra oceanica, Grray.|| The first was originally brought from Lord 

 Howe Island by the H.M.S. " Herald," and is also known to exist both 

 on Norfolk Island and in North-west Australia. Geliyra oceanica was 

 one of the discoveries of that accomplished naturalist and collector J. 

 Macgillivray, during the voyage of H.M.S. " Herald." It is both a Fijian 

 and Samoan species, and in fact appears to be generally distributed through- 

 out the South Pacific Islands. 



The Sciucidfe have only one representative at Lord Howe, Lygosoma 

 liclieniqerum^ 0'Shaun.,§ which is restricted to the island, where it was first 

 discovered by Macgillivray. So far as our researches enabled us to judge, 

 PhyUodncfyhis Guentheri is the commonest, the distribution of this and the 

 other species being very general, not only on the main island, but also on 

 Goat Island and the Admiralty Islets. 



They may be sought for on dry stony ground, under stones, amongst dry 

 leaves, and at the feet of low scrubby trees. 



As before stated there are no snakes, nor did we see any trace of fresh- 

 water chelonians. The creeks are much too shaded and protected ; indeed 

 there is only one, the Deep Creek, passing Wright's (now Johnston's) Farm, 

 in the slightest degree fitted for their existence. Turtles are, however, 

 known to occasionally frequent the shores of the island. Formerly, according 

 to the statements oi' Mr. E. S. Hill, during the earlier days of the island's 

 history, they were plentiful. He says : — " Innumerable quantities of 

 of exceedingly fine turtle frequent this place in the summer time, but at the 

 approach of winter they all go to the northward."^ 



In the paucity of its reptilian fauna Lord Howe resembles the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



Pisces. — The Fish-fauna of Lord Howe is of a remarkably interesting 

 nature, and on the whole, of a decidedly Australian facies. It is an 

 entirely new and unworked field for the Ichthyologist, as we are destitute 

 of a systematic description, or even catalogue, of the fish of this isolated 

 spot in the South Pacific. Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby informs me that Dr. Albert 

 Giinther, F.R.S., only mentions three species as found there, Serranus 



* Proc. Lin. Soc, N. S. Wales, 1883, vii, part 1, p. 87. 



t Proc. R. Geogr. Soc, xxii, p. 138. 



X Cat. Lizards, Brit. Mus., 2nd Edit., 1S88, i, p. 90, t. 7, f. 3. 



II Ibid., p. 152. 



§ Ibid, 1887, III, p. 269, t. 20., f. 1. 



U Hill's L(yrd Howe Ixland, loc. cif., p. 9. 



