118 



INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



The thirty species now known to occur in the Samoan Islands belong to 

 eighteen genera, none of which are endemic or even restricted in their geographical 

 range. A brief note on each genus from this point of view is given in its place, 

 although it must be admitted that, notwithstanding the work of the last forty 

 years, the taxonomy of the family does not yet rest, in all respects, on a very 

 stable basis. As regards the species or subspecies themselves, ten at least are 

 confined to Samoa, nine of these being here described as new ; coloured figures 

 will be given in Part III, Fascicle 4. 



HEMITHEINAE. 



In the collection before me, this subfamily is represented by only two 

 genera and, with the exception of a solitary specimen of Pyrrhorachis, by 

 Thalassodes alone. Agathia, Anisozyga (?) and Comibaena, which reach Fiji 

 {Agathia dimota Prout, Anisozyga pacifica Felder,* Comibaena cheramota Mey- 

 rick), and Mesurodes, only known to occur in Fiji, would be not unlikely additions, 

 but most of the widely distributed genera seem to extend no further east than 

 the Solomon Is. 



Thalassodes Guenee. 



Spec. Gen. hep., ix, 359, 1858.— Meyrick, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lord., 1886, p. 204, 1886.— Prout, 

 Gen. Ins. 129, p. 151, 1912 ; Lep. Cat. 14, pp. 95-97, 1913. 



Distributed throughout India, Malaya, Melanesia and Polynesia, with a 

 few wide-ranging species even in Africa. The Pacific Islands have long been 

 known as the habitat of three of the species, T. pilaria Guenee, T. chloropis 

 Meyrick, and T. timoclea Druce, all of which, indeed, have already been recorded 

 from Fiji, so that their occurrence in Samoa is not surprising. Together with 

 many other members of this genus, they are almost identical in markings, so 

 that their discrimination one from another, to say nothing of possibilities of 

 racial variation and of the differentiation of further species within the same 

 group, presents problems of considerable intricacy, especially since a large part 

 of the available material is in a more or less defective condition. I believe I can 

 distinguish four Samoan species, apart from the striking novelty about to be 

 described and a few indeterminate specimens. 



* As Felder's unique type is exceedingly like the common A. pieroides Walker, of Australia, 

 there may be some error regarding its locality. 



