( 327 ) XIX. Memoir on the Rhyuchota collected by Dr. Arthur Willey, F.R.S., chiefly in Birara (New Britain) and Lifu. By G. W. Kirkaldy, F.E.S. [Read June 7th, 1905.] Plate XVII. Although of an extremely interesting character, the collection of Bhynchota made by Dr. Willey * is too small, and too many of the forms described from neigh-bouring localities are as yet insufficiently known to me, to render a discussion upon their geographical distribution profitable. However, as might have been expected, the Rhynchotal fauna of Lifu j>artakes very closely of the nature of that of New Caledonia, while that of Birara is equally intimately related to the fauna of Papua (or New Guinea), at the same time all these are closely inter-related. Throughout I have employed the terms Lifu and Birara, as it appears expedient to retain the native names of such islands wherever these are distinctive, except those which are extensively colonized by Europeans, as, for example, New Zealand and even New Caledonia. Birara (also spelt Berrara) was formerly known as New Britain, and it was under this term that the bulk of Dr. Willey's researches have been published. The present official term, since the acquisition of the group by Germany, is Neu Pommern (or New Pomerania). The island of Murua, frequently alluded to in the following pages, is also known as " VVoodlark " and is termed " Moiou " by Montrouzier. The chief difficulty in the specific determination of this fauna as regards the Bhynchota, is its close relation-ship with that of Papua (or New Guinea), the latter being as yet very imperfectly known, the latest descriptions dating in some cases from Guetin-Meneville's contribution to the " Voyage of the Coquille," and Boisduval's * This Memoir may be regarded as a supplement to the "Zoolo-gical Results based on material . . . collected by Dr. Willey," published in five volumes by the Cambridge University Press, 1898-1902. TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1905. — PART III. (OCT.)
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