nowhere
else on the globe. But in addition to this large amount of specific
peculiarity (perhaps unequalled anywhere else in the world) the beetles of
this island are equally remarkable for their generic isolation, and for the
altogether exceptional proportion in which the great divisions of the order
are represented. The species belong to thirty-nine genera, of which no less
than twenty-five are peculiar to the island; and many of these are such
isolated forms that it is impossible to find their allies in any particular
country. Still more remarkable is the fact, that more than two-thirds of
the whole number of indigenous species are Rhyncophora or weevils, while
more than two-fifths (fifty-four species) belong to one family, the
Cossonidae. Now although the Rhyncophora are an immensely numerous group
and always form a large portion of the insect population, they nowhere else
approach such a proportion as this. For example, in Madeira they form
one-sixth of the whole of the indigenous Coleoptera, in the Azores less
than one-tenth, and in Britain one-seventh. Even more interesting is the
fact that the twenty genera to which these insects belong are every one of
them peculiar to the island, and in many cases have no near allies
elsewhere, so that we cannot but look on this group of beetles as forming
the most characteristic portion of the ancient insect fauna. Now, as the
great majority of these are wood borers, and all are closely attached to
vegetation and often to particular species of plants, we might, as Mr.
Wollaston well observes, deduce the former luxuriant vegetation of the
island from the great preponderance of this group, even had we not positive
evidence that it was at no distant epoch densely forest-clad. We will now
proceed briefly to indicate the numbers and peculiarities of each of the
families of beetles which enter into the St. Helena fauna, taking them, not
in {299} systematic order, but according to their importance in the island.

1. RHYNCOPHORA.--This great division includes the weevils and allied
groups, and, as above stated, exceeds in number of species all the other
beetles of the island. Four families are represented; the Cossonidae, with
fifteen peculiar genera comprising fifty-four species, and one minute
insect (_Stenoscelis hylastoides_) forming a peculiar genus, but which has
been found also at the Cape of Good Hope. It is therefore impossible to say
of which country it is really a native, or