122 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
usual forms of life were greater on this trip than on any that I 
had previously taken. Indeed, the South Pacific is particularly 
rich in peculiar and aberrant types of animal life. From the 
standpoint of animal distribution: also, this trip was of special in- 
terest since representatives of both the Polynesian and New Zea- 
land regions were encountered and comparisons between the two 
faunas could be made at first hand. 
On the evening after our arrival in Suva a visit was paid us 
at our hotel by Dr. C. Harold Wright, Government Pharmacist 
and Acting Commissioner of Agriculture for the Fiji Islands, who, 
from the first, exhibited a keen interest in our work and extended 
many courtesies to all of our party in facilitating the objects of 
our visit. Among other things, Dr. Wright offered storage space 
in the Chemical Laboratory for some of our boxes and impedi- 
menta. To myself, as entomologist, he issued a commodious work- 
ing space in the office of Mr. H. W. Simmonds, Acting Entomol- 
ogist for the Fijis, who was temporarily absent and did not return 
until several days after our arrival. This office occupied one wing 
of the Government Buildings and on being furnished with a key 
to it, a very marked concession, I was left to come and go as I 
chose. 
It was in this room that I, on a subsequent occasion, indulged 
in my first—and only—drink of yangona or kava, the native 
beverage. Each day about ten o’clock it was the custom for one 
of the native Fijians in the Commissioner’s office to prepare some 
of the dried root of the kava plant (Piper sp.) in a large 
wooden bowl. When this was mixed with water a yellowish-white 
fluid resulted which was passed around by the native in a coco- 
nut shell. The drink has an insipid taste but is exceedingly thirst- 
quenching. If indulged in too freely it is said to produce tem- 
porary paralysis of the lower limbs although it does not befog the 
brain. 
From time to time Dr. Wright offered suggestions as to collect- 
ing grounds, aided in the identification of certain plants upon 
which I found insects and furnished literature on various groups 
of animals. 
To Mr. Simmonds I am much indebted for information conecern- 
ing collecting places, notes on the fauna of Fiji, the identification 
of specimens and for pleasant companionship in laboratory and 
field. 
After spending two days at the Grand Pacific Hotel with its 
