18 



LORD HOWE ISLAND. 



With regard to the afBiiitios of the bird fauna of Lord Howe, Dr. E. P. 

 Eamsay, in 1883, wrote as follows*: — " It will be seen how closely its avifauna 

 ajiproaclies that of Now South Wales on the one hand, and in two important 

 particulars that of the JSTew Zealand region on the other. The genera found in 

 the New Zealand region, and not in the Australian, are Notornis, Ocydromus, 

 Aplonis. All the other genera are represented in New South Wales by the 

 same or allied species, there being of the whole avifauna only nine species, 

 as far as it is at present known, peculiar to the island." 



Reptilia. — Mr. Corrie, who wrote in 1878, f states that neither snakes nor 

 lizards are known on Lord Howe Island, but in this statement he is to some 

 extent wrong. Snakes are certainly unknown, but this important sub- 

 kingdom is certainly represented by the Lacertilia. We sucecded in 

 obtaining two of the tliree forms recorded, but no additional ones were 

 captured. 



The Geckonida) are represented by Pliyllodactylus Quentlwri ,lio\x\cVig&r,X 

 and QeJiyra oceanica, Gray.j] The first was originally brought from Lord 

 Howe Island by the II. M.S. " Herald," and is also known to exist both 

 on Norfolk Island and in North-west Australia. Oeliyra oceanica was 

 one of the discoveries of that accomplished naturalist and collector J. 

 Macgiilivray, during the voyage of H.M.S. "Herald." It is both a Fijian 

 and Samoan species, and in fact appears to be generally distributed through- 

 out the South Paciiio Islands. 



The Scincidas have only one representative at Lord Howe, Lygosoma 

 lichenigerum, 0'Shaun.,§ which is restricted to the island, where it was iirst 

 discovered by Macgiilivray. So far as our researches enabled us to judge, 

 Pliyllodacfylus Guentheri is the commonest, the distribution of this and the 

 other species being very general, not only on the main island, but also on 

 Goat Island and the Admiralty Islets. 



They may bo sought for on dry stony ground, under sto]ies, amongst dry 

 leaves, and at the feet of low scrubby trees. 



As before stated there are no snakes, nor did wo see any trace of fresh- 

 water cholonians. The creeks arc much too shaded and protected ; indeed 

 there is only one, the Deep Creek, passing Wright's (now Johnston's) Farm, 

 in the slightest degree fi.tted for their existence. Turtles are, however, 

 known to occasionally frequent the shores of the island. Pormerly, according 

 to the statements of Mr. E. S. Hill, during the earlier days of the island's 

 history, they wore plentiful. Ho says : — " Innumerable quantities of 

 of exceedingly fine turtle frequent this place in the summer time, but at the 

 approach of winter they all go to the northward. "H 



In the paucity of its reptilian fauna Lord Howe resembles the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



Fisccs. — The Fish-fauna of Lord Howe is of a remarkably interesting 

 nature, and, on the whole, of a decidedly Australian facies. It is an 

 entirely new and lurworked field for the Ichthyologist, as we are destitute 

 of a systematic description, or even catalogue, of the fish of this isolated 

 spot in the South Pacific. Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby informs mo that Dr. Albert 

 Giinther, F.E.S., only mentions three species as found there, Serranus 



* J'roe. Lin. Soc, W. S. Wale?, 1883, vii, part 1, p. 87. 



f Proo. K. Geogr. Soc, xxix, p. 138. 



J Oat. Lizards, Brit. Miis., 2nd Edit., 1888, I, p. 90, 1. 7, f. 



II Ibid., p. 152. 



§ Jhid, 1887, III, p. 269, t. 20., f. 1. 



if Hill's Lord Hovx Island, Joe. cit., p. 9. 



