26 



one green, the other brownish, of a Phasmid from Fiji, the dorsal 

 appearance of which resembled a leaf so perfectly that none but 

 a trained eye could locate it in situ. 



Mr. Swezey exhibited a series of the stages of Zeliis peregrinus 

 Kirkaldy from the tgg to the imago and detailed the life-history 

 and habits of this predaceous insect.* 



AUGUST 3rd, 1905. 



The eighth regular meeting was held on this date, Mr. Perkins 

 in the chair. 



Papers. 



Mr. R. C. L. Perkins presented a paper on "Food Habits of 

 Native Hawaiian Birds." The following is a brief summary : 



The Hawaiian Birds are classed according to their food-habits 

 as follows : 



( 1 ) Honey or nectar suckers ; useful because pollinizers. 



(2) Beneficial fruit-eaters which spread the seeds without in- 



juring them, and propagate the native plants. 



(3) Harmful fruit-eating birds, which destroy seeds they eat. 



(4) Eaters of injurious insects; beneficial. 



(5) Eaters of useful insects are practically unrepresented. 



In the family Drepanididae there are 34 species on the Hawaiian 

 Islands; 12 of these feed on nectar regularly; 2 are doubtful hon- 

 ey-eaters; 7 rarely eat honey, yet were seen eating it; they have 

 honey-sucking tongues and are apparently leaving off the honey- 

 sucking habit and are taking to insect-eating; 30 species eat nox- 

 ious insects, certainly all of them feed their young on insects ; most 

 of these eat spiders which may be either beneficial or otherwise; 

 3 are beneficial fruit-eaters 3 are highly injurious fruit- or seed- 

 eaters, yet these also eat caterpillars and feed them to their young, 

 and are thus far beneficial; 2 species are indifferent. 



Of the four Oo, 2 are chiefly honey-suckers, but also eat insects 

 and one is chiefly an insect-eater; one is extinct. Most of these 

 birds are now too rare to be of practical value. 



Of the five thrushes, which are very fine songsters, four are 

 largely fruit-eaters, but also devour insects ; the fifth is an insect- 



* Since published in Bull. H. S. P. A. Ent. I, pp. 232-4. PI. XVI 

 figs. 1-3. 



