THE INSECT FAUNA OF LORD HOWE 



ISLAND. 



With the exception of two Ehynehophora, described by MM. Saunders and 

 Jekel in 1855, and two Longicorns, made kno^\ai by Messrs. Adam White and 

 J. Thomson, nothing of importance was published concerning the insects of 

 Lord Howe Island until the year 1874-5, when Mr. F. P. Pascoe described a 

 few remarkable forms from material collected by Mr. Gr. Masters. Beyond 

 these scattered but interesting descriptions nothing has appeared on the 

 insect fauna of the Island, and I, therefore, propose in this paper to submit 

 all the material to which I have been able to obtain access to a careful 

 examination. The greater part of this material is contained in the col- 

 lection of the Australian Museum, but I have also had at my disposal a few 

 species from other sources. The collections from Lord Howe Island in the 

 former are mainly the result of Mr. Masters' labours, during three days 

 collecting in June, 1869, and of those of Mr. Etheridge's party, which visited 

 the island, at the instance of the Trustees of that Institution, in August, 1SS7, 

 and of the efforts of Mr. E. H. Saunders, who made considerable collections 

 there in the beginning of the following year. The latter collection is of 

 special interest in that it contains a number of insects from the summit of 

 Mount Lidgbird, a rocky peak, some 2,500 feet high, of which the entomology 

 was previously unknown. 



The insect fauna of Lord Howe, viewed in relation to generic distri- 

 bution, displays a marked affinity to the fauna of the Australian sub-region, 

 such as we should expect from the geographical position of the island. In- 

 deed, with the exception of the endemic genera, the only extra-Australian 

 forms with which I am acquainted are two genera of Longicorns, Somatidia 

 and Xi/Ioteles, both typical of New Zealand. I have already stated* my 

 belief that the insect-fauna of Norfolk Island, the other oceanic dependency 

 of New South Wales, is essentially Australian in its character, and in support of 

 my conclusion I have given a list of the species as far as they are known to 

 me. I now propose to adopt a similar course with the insects of Lord Howe 

 Island, and to illustrate the relationship of the Coleoptcra with those of the 

 mainland by a table showing the distribution of the genera and species. A 

 glance at this table will bring to light the two prominent features of the 

 fauna, — 1st. That the more conspicuous genera (e.y., Scamphifes, Lmnprima, 

 Isodon, Saraqzis, Leptops, ^c.) are peculiarly Australian; — 2nd. That the Island 

 contains a number of highly-modified endemic forms, e.g., Cormodes, Emha- 

 phiodes, jMthreus, Hyhomorj^hus, Blax, Sfc. 



* Report on a Small Zoological Collection from Norfolk Island. — Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. 

 Wales, 1887, ii, pp. 1001-1014. 



