CHAP. XV.] 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 



303 



expected, chiefly with Australia and the Pacific Islands ; but they 

 exhibit in the buzzard, one of the owls, and perhaps in some of 

 the Drepanididse, slight indications of very rare or very remote 

 communication with America. The amount of speciality is, 

 however, wonderful, far exceeding that of any other islands ; the 

 only approach to it being made by New Zealand and Madagascar, 

 which have a much more varied bird fauna and a smaller pro- 

 portionate number of peculiar genera. These facts undoubtedly 

 indicate an immense antiquity for this group of islands, or the 

 vicinity of some very ancient land (now submerged), from which 

 some portion of their peculiar fauna might be derived. 



Reptiles. — The only other vertebrate animals are two lizards. 

 One of these is a very widespread species, Ahlepharus pacilo- 

 pleurus, said by Dr. Giinther to be found in Timor, Australia, 

 the Samoa Islands, and the Sandwich Islands. It seems 

 hardly likely that such a range can be due to natural causes. 

 The other is said to form a peculiar genus of geckoes, but both 

 its locality and affinities appear to be somewhat doubtful. 



Land-shells. — The only other group of animals which has 

 been carefully studied, and which presents features of especial 

 interest, are the land-shells. These are very numerous, about 

 thirty genera, and between three and four hundred species having 

 been described ; and it is remarkable that this single group con- 

 tains as many species of land-shells as all the other Polynesian 

 Islands from the Pelew Islands and Samoa to the Marquesas. All 

 the species are peculiar, and about three-fourths of the whole 

 belong to peculiar genera, fourteen of which constitute the sub- 

 family Achatinellinse, entirely confined to this group' of islands 

 and constituting its most distinguishing feature. Thirteen genera 

 (comprising sixty-four species) are found also in the other Poly- 

 nesian Islands, but three genera of Auriculidse (Plecotrema, 

 Pedipes, and Blauneria) are not found in the Pacific, but in- 

 habit — the former genus Australia, China, Bourbon, and Cuba, 

 the two latter the West Indian Islands. Another remarkable 

 peculiarity of these islands is the small number" of Opercu- 

 lata, which are represented by only one genus and five species, 

 while the other Pacific Islands have twenty genera and 115 

 species, or more than half the number of the Inoperculata. 



