445 



base a well gromided opinion in regard to the sujiposed former 

 existence of a Pacitic continent and thns to secnre further evi- 

 dence upon the (jiiestion of the [X'rnianence of the continents 

 and oceans, and, if there may be considered to have been such 

 a Pacific continent, to find its former extent and its relations 

 to the surrounding" continental areas, its antiquity, the origin 

 of its fauna and fiora, and the extent of divergence in the 

 various groups, and to trace as far as it may be done, the 

 history of the human race in the Pacific. To the broad pur- 

 pose of the ex})loration and to the subordinate ends, we feel 

 that an adequate entomological explorali(jn will contribute 

 largely. The richness and diversity of any insect fauna in 

 comparison with that of other phases of land aninuds and its 

 greater persistence under conditions leading to the extinction 

 of the larger forms of animal life, tends to make the con- 

 clusions drawai- from it less subject to accidental errors. We 

 believe that the biological evidence in regard to these problems 

 must rest primarily upon a thorough knowledge of the 

 phanerogamic flora, the land shells and the insects of the re- 

 gions to be explored. 



How this knowdedge of the insect fauna may best be se- 

 cured is indicated by the work done in the past. Few, if any, 

 of the great explorations in the Pacific have made any con- 

 siderable contribution to our knowledge of the insect fauna, 

 and today the only group of islands in the' Pacific where this 

 fauna is at all adequately known is our own group where the 

 Committee of the Royal Society and the British Association 

 hit upon the method by which an insect fauna may be made 

 known. It was by the selection of such an extremely capable 

 entomological naturalist as Dr. Perkins and by keeping him 

 long enough upon the ground to do the work that the truly re- 

 markable results embodied in the Fauna Hawaiiensis were 

 secured. 



In the opinion of this Societ}', the adequate entomological 

 exploration of the Pacific from the standpoint of the problems 

 stated and the particular phase of the relation of the Hawaiian 



