10 NATUKAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



text, the footnotes, or in the index and glossary. Those who prefer their reading 

 should rest on the firmer ground that definite nomenclature is supposed to im- 

 part, will find the necessary technical names of orders, families, genera and 

 species, referred to in the text given in the footnotes, or in the cross-references 

 in the index. The systematist and specialist will not expect the degree of com- 

 pleteness in this regard that Avould characterize a manual dealing with any one 

 of the subjects herein treated. However, the scientific worker will find in the 

 index and glossary, not only the scientific names most frequently in use for 

 common objects in the more important contributions to the literature of his 

 subject in the islands, but often the latest word on the nomenclature of the 

 species in question. 



The index and glossary is made a special feature of the book. It has been 

 carefully prepared and numerous cross-references to the various English, Ha- 

 waiian and Latin names that are current with the people, or are written into the 

 literature of the islands will aid the student in working out synonyms. The 

 author has endeavored to make the possession of a little information, concerning 

 the natural history of Hawaii, of use to the would-be student. To aid the lay- 

 man, two generous open doors have been provided : one through the index, the 

 other through the table of contents. By the use of these doors the inquirer, in 

 possession of any one of the -many common names, the name of the great division 

 to which the plant or animal belongs, or even knowing something of its habits 

 or habitat, will, in most cases, find their knowledge sufficient to guide the way 

 to such definite information as may be contained within the body of the book. 



]\Iuch in the form of notes, comments and observation that seemed too 

 specific, local, critical, fragmentary or prosaic to fit well into the plan of the 

 body of the text, has been reserved for the combined index, glossar}^ and com- 

 pendium at the end of the volume, and there appears in alphabetical order without 

 reference to the text. The index therefore should be in constant use by the 

 reader and student. 



Because of obvious limitations, and owing to the nature of the objects 

 sought, the author has made no rigid attempt to follow out a system 

 of arrangement in this volume such as an ethnologist, a geologist, a botanist 

 or a zoologist would choose were they treating their special subject 

 separately and in fuller detail. Strictly rigorous adherence to the various 

 chapter headings has often been next to impossible. A given subject is often 

 presented in preceding and succeeding chapters; or it may occur in dift'erent 

 parts of the book. The natural desire is that books, in any way scientific in 

 character, should follow some generally accepted system or arrangement. Such 

 systems usually start with the lower, older, simpler or more generalized form 

 and proceed gradually to the consideration of the more recent, higher or com- 

 plex. Occasionall.v, however, for the sake of convenience, the system is reversed 

 and a different order of arrangement may be followed. In the following pages 

 the arrangement of the material has been based largely on a certain association 

 of ideas and objects; but the sequence of the chapters has been controlled, to a 



