24 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



grant can have arrived from without can be judged from the great 

 number of species which fail to cross the short distances between the 

 islands themselves."* 



"An important fact in connection with the Hawaiian species is 

 their variability. This is most noticeable in the bees, Crabronidje, and 

 Mimesidfe, a great many of the species in these groups being in a very 

 unstable condition. The variation is not confined to differences in 

 size, colour, &c., but affects important structures, in which it is 

 unusual to find any noticeable variability ; and to this is due the 

 extreme difficulty of determining and describing the numerous species, 

 the specific characters frequently having to be taken from structures 

 which are obviously variable. In striking contrast with the groups 

 above mentioned are the species of ( hlt/nerus. Very few of the eighty- 

 six species exhibit any variation of note, and this, when it occurs, is 

 nearly always of an unimportant character {e.g., colour). From this 

 one would infer that the Odyneri have now reached the maximum of 

 species that the islands can support in the present condition of the 

 lepidopterous fauna, on which, as they prey on caterpillars, they are 

 dependent. The bees, on the other hand, are not similarly restricted ; 

 for, with flowers abundant at all seasons, the islands, so far as one can 

 see, are capable of supporting much greater numbers of these than of 

 wasps." 



The Orthoptera are very remarkable. Seventy-three species are 

 known, of which six belong to the earwigs, cockroaches, Mantids, and 

 short-horned grasshoppers ; t the other forty-nine belonging to the 

 loug-horned grasshoppers and crickets. Of the former group one 

 species only "has any claim to be considered indigenous"; of the 

 latter, forty- three (nearly eighty-eight per cent.) are endemic. The 

 Phasmatids are entirely unrepresented. 



Of the Neuroptera (sens, lat.), one hundred and eleven species are 

 present: fifty-four being Hemerobiidae (lacewings and antlions), of 

 which about fifty are indigenous ; twenty-nine dragonflies (about 

 twenty-five endemic) and twenty-five Psocids (nearly all confined to 

 these islands) ; one Embiid and two Termites complete the list, 

 caddisflies and mayflies being unrepresented. 



Exigencies of space will not permit a longer notice ; but enough 

 has been written to show that the work is one of exceptional interest 

 and value. As for the paper, printing, and illustrations, it is sufficient 

 to say that the Cambridge University Press is the publisher. 



G. W. KlRKAIiDY. 



=•= Percentage of peciTliar species in the different islands : — 



Hymenoptera aculeata Hemerobiidce. Drayonjlies. 



Kauai 90*9 87-5 77-7 



Oahu 66-6 60 40 



Molokai 26-3 75 12-5 



Maui 31-6 75 10 



Lanai 7"6 — — 



Hawaii 81-4 80 11-1 



f Seven earwigs are known, all introduced — some probably at an early 

 date, as Bloxham notices, in 1825, a " black earwig " (' Voy. Blonde,' p. 252). 



