2 



INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



pages, no names are given, the insects in question were collected by them. The 

 figures in the text were drawn by Mr. D. E. Kimmins. 



So far as our present knowledge extends, the Carabidae found in the 

 Samoan Islands are few in species and, apparently, also in individuals. The 

 species enumerated below total only fifteen, or, with the two undescribed ones 

 referred to in a note at the end, seventeen. Of these fifteen only six, including 

 the five new ones here described, are endemic in Samoa ; a further four are 

 spread widely over South-Bast Asia, three extend to the Malay region or at 

 least to New Guinea, one occurs also in Queensland only, and one in New Cale- 

 donia only. Four of the species occur in Australia, and four (but not all the 

 same four) in New Caledonia. Only one species is at all widely spread in 

 Polynesia, and that — the only species common to Samoa and the Hawaiian 

 Islands — has been recorded from Honolulu. One species is known from 

 Christmas Island (Malay region). 



A few Carabidae have been described from material from the Fiji Islands, 

 and one or two from specimens from Tahiti ; unfortunately I have not been 

 able to see the types of the latter, but, judging from the descriptions, I do not 

 think any of them have been met with as yet in Samoa. One Australian species 

 is, however, found both in Samoa and Tahiti. Of the species described from 

 Fijian examples. Dr. H. Gebien, of the Hamburg Museum, has been good enough 

 to send me all the types (with one exception) for examination ; all the species, 

 apart from the Endynomena, prove to be different from those found in Samoa. 

 It may be mentioned here that the genus Colpodes, to which all the five new 

 species belong, contains an enormous number of species, and is represented in 

 all the warmer regions of the globe. 



Generally speaking, the fauna of Samoa, so far as the Carabidae are con- 

 cerned, is widely different from that of the Hawaiian Islands, and appears 

 also to have nothing in common with Fiji ; this latter feature, however, may 

 be due to the slight amount of collecting that has hitherto been done in that 

 part of the world. On the other hand, there is an evident connection with 

 Australia and New Caledonia, while several of the wide-ranging species of the 

 Oriental region extend their habitat as far as Samoa. 



The fifteen species of which I have examined specimens are as under : 



