OCR Text |
Show 1894.] ON THE HEMIPTERA-HETEROPTERA OP GRENADA. 167 2. On the Hemiptera-Heteroptera of the Island of Grenada, West Indies. By P. B. UHLER.1 [Received February 9, 1894.] [Two papers were recently communicated to the Society on Hemiptera from the island of St. Vincent (see P. Z. S. 1893, p. 705, & 1894, p. 156) ; in these it was mentioned that Prof. Uhler was engaged in working out the collections from Grenada sent to him by the Committee. I have now the pleasure of offering to the Society the memoir the reception of which we were then looking forward to. The collections studied were made by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert H . Smith under the auspices of Mr. F. D. Godman, F.B.S., in the manner that was mentioned when we were dealing with the St. Vincent insects.-D. S.] The collection of Heteroptera here enumerated was brought together in the island of Grenada by Messrs. Herbert H . Smith and Henry E. Summers during a part of the year 1891. It represents the results of a careful search over the principal parts of the island during a period of about eight months, extending from February to November. The total number of species brought back is about 166, excluding varieties and some immature forms which could not be identified. Although not exhaustive, the collection affords an excellent basis of comparison with the faunas of other islands and countries adjacent to the centre of America ; it also supplies some bints as to the sources from which the fauna has been derived. From a review of the species here enumerated it appears evident that the Hemipterous fauna is Central-American. It is largely composed of forms which belong to the borders of the Tropics, rather than of such distinctly tropical ones as inhabit the South- American continent. The percentage of small forms is remarkably large. The family most extensively represented is the LYG^EID^;, of which 28 species are present, and these are correspondingly numerous in individuals. Of these species nine-tenths are found in Cuba and the other Greater Antilles, and about the same number also occur in Mexico and Central America. Next in abundance appear the P E N T A T O M O I D E A , with 24 species. Most of these, likewise, are found in the Antilles, Mexico, and Central America, and form part of the fauna which ranges from the southern United States to the borders of the equatorial region. The most conspicuous form is Eclessa rugulosa, which is closely related to a species of Cuba and San Domingo and to another from Mexico. Banasa lenticularis is very closely related to another species which also occurs in the countries just mentioned. The B E D U V I O I D E A come next, but the 24 species of this family are not generally abundant in individuals. About eight-tenths of 1 Communicated by D. SHARP, F.R.S., F.Z.S., on behalf of the Committee for investigating the Flora and Fauna of the West India Islands. 12* |