natural, history

The twenty-eight new species and subspecies described below include eighteenspecies and three subspecies which are at present known only from Rennell and Bellona;the other six species and one subspecies have a wider distribution within theSolomons Group, but have not been found elsewhere. Of the thirty-nine identifiedspecies only two are apparently restricted to the Solomons. Seven species, includingone which is represented in Rennell by a race, have previously been taken only in theSamoan Islands, where they were believed to be endemic. The discovery of these inRennell demonstrates how incomplete is our present knowledge of the distribution ofmany of the species of Microlepidoptera occurring in the Pacific islands. Two speciesare otherwise known only from the New Hebrides; one from the New Hebrides andthe Bismarck Archipelago; two from New Britain; one from the Marquesas; and twofrom Fiji, one of these being represented by a race in the Solomons. Twenty-fourspecies, among them two which are represented by races in Rennell, are found inPapuan, Australian and extra-Pacific regions, and some are also widely distributedin the Pacific islands. A number of these species have almost certainly been spread byman, but the subspeciation evident in the Rennell examples of two seems to indicatelong-standing isolation in their case at least. The two species referred to are Trissodorishonorariella and Iridostoma ichthyopa. The former is associated with the screwpine (Pandanus), and the latter with the coconut (Cocos nucifera).In the following descriptions the colour terms used are mostly taken from RIDG­WAY, "Color Standards & Color Nomenclature". The types and para types of the newspecies described are in the British Museum (Natural History).The photomicrographs of the male and female genitalia illustrated in Figs. 30-69were taken by Mr. M. G. SAWYERS of the British Museum. Other photographs areby the author as, also, are the line illustrations which were made with the aid of aprojection apparatus. The magnifications used for the photographs of the wings inFigs. 1-29 have not been given as they vary considerably and only part of the insectis shown. Reference should therefore be made to the measurements of the wing expansefor each species which are given at the beginning of the description.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe would again like to express our gratitude to all who helped make the expeditionpossible, and especially for the grants received from the Percy Siaden MemorialFund, the Godman Fund and the British Museum (Natural History).During the study of this collection part of the Olethreutinae material was examinedby Dr. A. DIAKONOFF of the Leiden Museum, to whom I am indebted for thedetermination of Bactra coronata Diakonoff and Polychrosis pedias Meyrick.88