CHAP. XV THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 



319 



if the two families are distinct), 122 Curculionidse, and 54 

 Cerambycidge. The remaining 200 species, or so, being 

 distributed amongst about 25 other families. Many import- 

 ant families, such as Cicindelidse, Scaraboeidae, Buprestidse, 

 are either entirely absent or represented by one or two 

 introduced species. The absence of Chrysomelidae, which 

 usually form a large part of every Coleopterous fauna, is 

 most noteworthy. In the eight families mentioned above 

 most of the species belong to peculiar (precinctive) genera 

 which usually contain numerous distinct species. 



Two important characteristics of the Coleopterous fauna 

 are, the small size of the species, and the great scarcity of 

 individuals. Dr. Sharp, who has described many of them,^ 

 and who has kindly furnished me with the latest facts and 

 figures for the present edition of my work, says they are 

 " mostly small or very minute insects," and that " there 

 are few — probably it would be correct to say absolutely 

 none — that would strike an ordinary observer as being 

 beautiful." Mr. Blackburn says that it was not an un- 

 common thing for him to pass a morning on the mountains 

 and to return home with perhaps two or three specimens, 

 having seen literally nothing else except the few species 

 that are generally abundant. He states that he "has 

 frequently spent an hour sweeping flower-covered herbage, 

 or beating branches of trees over an inverted white 

 umbrella without seeing the sign of a beetle of any kind." 

 To those who have collected in any tropical or even 

 temperate country on or near a continent, this poverty of 

 insect life must seem almost incredible ; and it affords us 

 a striking proof of how erroneous are those now almost 

 obsolete views which imputed the abundance, variety, size, 

 and colour of insects to the warmth and sunlight and 

 luxuriant vegetation of the tropics. The facts become quite 

 intelligible, however, if we consider that only minute 

 insects of certain groups could ever reach the islands by 



1 " Memoirs on the Coleoptera of the Hawaiian Islands." By the Rev. T. 

 Blackburn, B.A., and Dr. D. Sharp. Scientific Transactions of the Royal 

 Dublin Society, Vol. III. Series II. 1885. See also Fauna HaivaiiensiSf 

 Vol. II. part 3, 1900. 



Y 



