270 
ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY 
[PART III. 
wader, a small plover (Afgialitis sanctce-Jielence ) which is peculiar 
to the island, but closely allied to African species. Numerous 
imported birds, such as canaries, Java sparrows, some African 
finches, guinea-fowls, and partridges, are now wild. There are 
no native butterflies, but a few introduced species of almost 
world-wide range. The only important remnant of the original 
fauna consists of beetles and land shells. The beetles are the 
more numerous and have been critically examined and described 
by Mr. T. Y. Wollaston, whose researches in the other Atlantic 
islands are so well known. 
Coleoptera of St. Helena,— Omitting those beetles which get 
introduced everywhere through man’s agency, there are 59 species 
of Coleoptera known from St. Helena ; and even of these there 
are a few widely distributed species that may have been intro- 
duced by man. It will be well, therefore, to confine ourselves 
almost wholly to the species peculiar to the island, and, therefore, 
almost certainly forming part of the endemic or original fauna. 
Of these we find that 10 belong to genera which have a very 
wide range, and thus afford no indication of geographical affinity ; 
2 belong to genera which are characteristic of the Palsearctic 
fauna (. Bembidium , Longitarsus) ; 3 to African genera (Adoretus, 
Sciobius, Aspidomorpha) ; and two species of Calosoma are most 
allied to African species. There are also 4 African species, 
which may be indigenous in St. Helena. The peculiar genera, 
7 in number, are, however, the most interesting. We have first 
Haplothorax, a large beetle allied to Carabus and Calosoma, though 
of a peculiar type. This may be held to indicate a remote 
Palsearctic affinity. Melissius , one of the Dynastidie, is allied to 
South African forms. Microxylobius , one of the Cossonides (a 
sub-family of Curculionidse) is the most important genus, com- 
prising as it does 13 species. It is, according to Mr. Wollaston, 
an altogether peculiar type, most allied to Pentarthrum , a genus 
found in St. Helena, Ascension, and the south of England, and 
itself very isolated. Nesiotes, another genus of Curculionidm, 
belongs to a small group, the allied genera forming which inhabit 
Europe, Madeira, and Australia. A third peculiar and isolated 
genus is Trachypk laosom a , The Anthribkhe are represented by 
