THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST, . 43 



NEWFOUNDLAND BUTTERFLIES. COLLECTED BY 



P. H. GOSSE. 

 Editor Can. Ent. : 



Dkar Sir. — I send you herewith certain notes of observations made 

 50 years ago, by the eminent naturalist, P]iili[) H. Gosse, F. R. S., &c., on 

 Buttertiies of Newfoundland. 



I received a letter from Mr. Gosse, in the spring of 1882, from which 

 I extract as follows : 



"I began the study of Insects in 1832, when I was a clerk in a mer- 

 cantile house at Carbonear, Newfoundland. For more than three years I 

 pursued the study with great ardor and industry, making careful drawings 

 of nearly e\'ery species 1 found, of all orders, often magnified. These 

 drawings, in a small 4to book, I still possess, and for minute care I think 

 they are in nowise inferior to any that I have executed in later years. 

 They have never been used for publication, save a few slight allusions in 

 my • Canadian Naturalist,' and 1 have of late thought some of you Ameri- 

 can entomologists might be interested in looking over so early a record, 

 since you are including Newfoundland in your Fauna. If it would give 

 you the least pleasure, I will at once post it to you." At my reply to this, 

 the book was sent, with the following note : " I do not know what is 

 known to the l^. S. entomologists about the economy and natural history 

 of the insects of Newfoundland, i am pretty sure English entomologists 

 know nothing at all about them, for my own drawings and observations 

 have ne\er been published. Therefore I ha\e thought it just possible that 

 these early notes of mine may embody facts sufficiently graphic and inter- 

 esting to be published in one of your magazines. If you think so, you are 

 perfectly at liberty to use them. I only stipulate that my ipsissiina verba 

 be not changed." 



This book contains excellent colored figures of many Coleoptera, 

 Hemiptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Heterocerous Lepi- 

 doptera, with all which I myself have no concern, but by Mr. Gosse's 

 permission I am free to submit it to any specialists who care to make use 

 of it for these orders. But in the Diurnal Lepidoptera are many species 

 of interest, and some which have only been described of recent years. In 

 most cases there are drawings of the mature caterpillar and chrysalis also. 

 'J'he species given are 

 I. Pai>ilio Brcvicauda Saunders, % both surfaces, 2 figs, of mature cater- 

 pillar, and 2 of chrysalis, the green and the brown vars. 



