[IV.] 



THE INSECT FAUNA. 



BY W. J. RAINBOW, 



Entomologist, Australian Museum. 



AMONG the memoranda handed to me by Mr. Hedley in connection 

 with the insects collected at Funafuti, the following remark 

 occurs : " The collection brought back does scanty justice to the 

 Entomological fauna of Funafuti, whose claims were, I fear, 

 unduly subordinated to the demands of the Marine Invertebrata, 

 the spiders being the only group whose proportions are at all 

 fairly represented." 



Small as the collection is, however, it is not by any means 

 devoid of interest, for while there are individuals amongst it that 

 are well known to Entomologists, there are also some that are 

 new. Indeed, it would be strange if it were not so, when we 

 consider the rich fields awaiting the labours of systematic workers 

 among the islands of the Pacific, that are, as yet, comparatively 

 untouched. And it must also be borne in mind, that the fauna 

 of the islands comprising the various groups of which the Ellice 

 Group is one is of a more or less derived nature that is to say, 

 the fauna of any one island or group can scarcely be considered 

 as appertaining solely to it, but must be studied from a much 

 broader standpoint, not only as regards the distribution of the 

 genera, but also of the species. Thus, for instance, amongst the 

 beetles, Sphenophorus sulcipes, Karsch, originally recorded from 

 the Marshall Islands* was obtained by Mr. Hedley at Funafuti ; 

 and amongst the butterflies Junonia vellida, Fabr., also obtained 

 by Mr. Hedley, is not only common in the Ellice Group, f but 

 also at the Gilbert Islands, J and coming nearer home Australia. 

 Then there are the mosquitoes Meyarrhina inornata, Walk., 

 being found both in New Guinea and the Ellice Islands. Being 

 possessed of this knowledge, therefore, it is only reasonable to 



* Berlin. Ent. Zeit., xxv., 1880, p. 11, pi. i., fig. 16. 

 fProc. Zool. Soc., 1878, p. 297; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), xv., 

 p. 258. 



I Geogr. Journ.,;vi., 4., 1895, p. 348. 



