84 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XII, January, 1958 
Fig. 2. A view across the lagoon, from the foot of Mr. Lidgbird, showing sands and coral rocks of the seashore. 
On the horizon is Mt. Eliza with its toothlike form. Photo by Miss Z. Liepa. 
acters than the ancestral one. In a series of 
generations, which may be very small, a new 
species can evolve, distinct from the ancestral 
form but practically the same, being only 
impoverished in its genes (characters). This 
sort of endemism is of no interest to us. Only 
paleoendemism can give us solid data about 
the past of the island and its natural history. 
8. Paleontological data about Lord Howe 
Island are very scarce because, first of all, no 
one has concerned himself with this matter, 
and second, the soils are not favourable for 
the preservation of fossils. The soils of the 
island are of two sorts: old coral reefs, which 
cannot contain the land fauna or contain only 
their occasional remnants; and volcanic soils 
or derivatives of them. The latter are situated 
very high on the island and are practically 
unexplored. It is possible that some bones 
of extinct birds, etc., could have been pre- 
served by volcanic soils as result of a fall of 
rock, but nobody has been interested in their 
discovery. 
9. The absence of some groups, families, 
etc., is a very complicated problem. First, it 
could be only lack of material, because no- 
body has systematically collected during a 
whole year on the island. Second, these 
groups may have been present but now are 
extinct owing to the influence of different 
conditions: the influence of man and his 
domesticated or semidomesticated animals, 
the introduction of stronger rivals, or a change 
of climate, all of which would have the 
stronger effect. Also their rarity could be 
caused by some too small biological niches 
on the island, etc. In this regard it is interest- 
ing to record the absence of such common 
fly families as Tabanidae, Nemestrinidae, 
Apioceridae, subfamily Asilinae, Coelopidae, 
etc. 
10. Some Calliphoridae (Diptera) show 
