THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 
537 
clusively that this is not the case, and that they are allied 
to the Ccerebidce, a point of great interest, since the latter 
are American. The leading features of Hawaiian orni¬ 
thology were first pointed out by Professor A. Newton 
in Nature (17th March, 1892), but are too technical to 
need more than mention here. It may be stated, how¬ 
ever, that various finches found on the group may possibly 
own an Asiatic origin, and that Acrulocercus and Choeto- 
ptila , and the Rhipidura-like Ghasiempis, point certainly to 
an Australian ancestry, although the three most numerous 
families of that region—parrots, kingfishers, and pigeons 
—are all wanting. 
The land mollusca of the Sandwich Islands are 
described by Mr. A. H. Cooke as standing in marked 
contrast to those of the other Polynesian groups, in the 
possession of three entirely peculiar genera— Aclmtinella , 
Carelia , and Auriculella. More than 300 of the former 
genus have been described, every mountain valley on 
some of the islands containing its own peculiar species. 
Partula , so characteristic of all the other groups, is absent, 
while the small land operculates, with the sole exception 
of Helicina , are also wanting. The occurrence of one 
of the Merope group of Helix , otherwise known only from 
the Solomon Islands, is most remarkable. On the other 
hand, Patula , Microcystis , Tornatellina , and other small 
pan-Polynesian land pulmonata are well represented, and 
there is a rich development of Succinea. Among the 
marine littoral mollusca occur two Purpura , one of which 
is closely related to a tropical Mexican and the other to 
a temperate Californian species. On the whole, the 
molluscan fauna is unique in its peculiarities, both as 
regards its indigenous element and also as regards the 
apparently complicated relationships of the elements 
which are not indigenous. 
