Lord Howe Island — PARAMONOV 
85 
Fig. 3. A general view of Lord Howe Island from Malabar Hill. In centre, Mt. Lidgbird, at right Mt. Gower. 
The latter is 2,800 feet high. Photo by Miss Z. Liepa. 
very interesting features in regard to their 
distribution: the Calliphora hortona group, 
with bright orange knobs at base of wings, 
so typical to New Zealand and present in 
Sydney area (probably introduced), are absent 
on the island. 
Lucilia sericata Meig., a semidomesticated 
fly, is present in enormous numbers, but the 
Australian sheep blow-fly, Lucilia cuprina 
Wied., is quite absent. Very strange also is 
the absence of the typical forms of blow-flies 
of the mainland, C. stygia F. and C, augur; on 
Norfolk Island both species are represented, 
whilst on the mainland they are present liter- 
ally everywhere. 
11. There are some interesting caves at 
North Bay, but owing to the shattered con- 
dition of the rock, they are very dangerous 
to enter. One cave about three-quarters of a 
mile from the shore has been explored for 
about 250 yards. There are some fine stal- 
actites and shawl formations in it, but the 
numerous cracks around show that there may 
be a great fall of rock at any time. These caves 
were not explored biologically, but the ani- 
mals they shelter can give extremely interest- 
ing data about the origin of life on the island. 
CLIMATE 
In order to understand the origin and com- 
position of the fauna of the island, it is nec- 
essary first of all to know the climate of Lord 
Howe Island. 
Table 1 presents the data published by 
Russell (1895), based on eight years of me- 
teorological observations relating only to the 
low parts of the island. The mountain area of 
the island is meteorologically unknown. It is 
