﻿SOLOMON ISLANDS TRIPTEROIDES — BELKIN 203 



THE SOLOMON ISLANDS 



The Solomon group is an archipelago of the southwestern Pacific 

 Ocean forming an irregular double chain of seven large islands and 

 a great number of smaller islands. This archipelago appears to be an 

 extension of the Bismarck Archipelago, which includes the Admiralty 

 Islands, New Ireland, New Britain, and several smaller island groups. 

 The Solomons extend from northwest to southeast for a distance of 

 approximately 600 miles between longitude 154:°40' and 160° 30' E. 

 and between latitude 5° and 11° S. The total land area has been vari- 

 ously estimated but is likely in the neighborhood of 15,000 square miles. 

 These islands probably never were part of a continental land mass, 

 as they are separated from neighboring island groups by depths of 

 ocean in thousands of feet, and even individual islands, although sepa- 

 rated by narrow channels, are demarked by very deep water. There is 

 good evidence, in the form of coral ridges and plateaus on the large 

 volcanic islands, that, in recent times, an uplift of about 1,500 feet has 

 taken place. Thus, the Solomons are apparently oceanic islands that 

 have derived their fauna and flora from the Papuan of New Guinea. 

 The channels separating the various islands from one another and the 

 first channel between New Guinea and New Britain are usually less 

 than a hundred miles wide, but they have formed efficient barriers. 

 We find that progressively the fauna, at least, becomes poorer and 

 poorer as we go eastward. The sharpest reduction occurs between 

 New Britain and New Ireland, as a group, and the northern Solomons. 



The larger islands of the Solomons are mountainous, reaching alti- 

 tudes of 10,000 feet on Bougainville and 8,000 feet on Guadalcanal. 

 Two active volcanoes are present on Bougainville. Savo Island, near 

 Guadalcanal, has been active since the discovery of the group. These 

 mountainous islands have narrow, flat coastal areas, which are best 

 developed on the north coast of Guadalcanal and the southwest coast of 

 Bougainville. Many of the smaller islands in the group are almost 

 entirely of coral formation. 



The native population is of Melanesian stock. Some of the outlying 

 islands, particularly Rennell and Sikiana (Stewart), which are con- 

 sidered part of the chain by some authorities, are inhabited by 

 Polynesians. Europeans were very few in number before the war. 

 Little change has occurred in the Solomons since Guppy (1887) gave 

 his interesting account of the life of the natives, or even since the 

 original discovery of the group by Mendana in 1567. 



The islands are covered with dense virgin vegetation broken in a 

 few places along the coast by coconut plantations. The climate is 

 typical of the tropical islands of the Pacific. The rainfall is quite 

 variable, extremes of 70 inches and about 300 inches a year being re- 

 ported from different localities on one island. There is a more or less 



