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ON SOME NEW LEPIDOPTERA DISCOVERED BY 

 A. S. MEEK IN BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 



By the Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD and KARL JORDAN. 



. /"HEN describing in Aoc. Zool. xi. p. 31i) (1904) some remarkable Lepitlupterii, 

 obtained b)' A. S. Meek at Owgarra, sitnated at a high altitude north ot 

 the head of the Aroa River, we mentioned that the outbreak of measles had 

 compelled the collector to return at once to the coast with his men. The few 

 hundred specimens found during two or three days' collecting, among which were 

 the wonderful new Troides cliimciera and a number of new Delias, new T.ycaenidae, 

 Milionia, etc., were just enough to show what a fine collection might have been 

 got together if no such deplorable disaster had overtaken the expedition. After 

 all the hardships undergone and the personal danger attendant ujion an expedition 

 into the interior, it would have been very natural if the hard luck experienced 

 had discouraged A. S. Meek entirely from going again into the mountains. But 

 our friend's spirit is not easily damped, and the fine things he had found up 

 there did not leave him any peace. We were agreeably surprised to hear from him 

 that he had made preparations to revisit those high regions in order to maki^ 

 a thorough collection of Lepidoptera, and especially to discover the male of 

 Troides chimaera. 



Well, the collection is safely iu our hands, and a remarkable one it is indeed. 

 We do not easily get into ecstasies over some new species arriving at Tring, but 

 this collection gave us reason for being astonished. Not only is the percentage 

 of new species very high, but what is more noteworthy, there is a remarkably 

 large number of new genera of which no representatives have been found at lower 

 altitudes. The total number of species is less high than in the first collection 

 made by A. S. Meek on the Upper Aroa River in 1903 ; but that is only natural, 

 considering the altitude and attendant physical features of the region where the 

 present collection was made. Meek's letters referring to this expedition are very 

 interesting reading. As they give one a good idea of the district collected in, 

 and of the doubtful pleasures a collector must expect to meet if he ventures 

 into the interior of New Guinea, we give here some extracts, which we hope 

 the reader will find as interesting and instructive as we did ourselves. We 

 congratulate Mr. Meek heartily on having achieved such great success in a district 

 where climate and natives are equally bad. 



In a letter dated Cooktown, July 4th, 1904, Mr. A. .S. Meek told us that 

 he was still undecided about a new expedition to the mountains. " But I am 

 almost sure," he added, " to take that trip. If I do go I intend stojiping inland 

 a long time (not for good, I liope), and shall try to get all my boys signed on 

 for twelve months. 1 shall iirobably take an extra assistant and a big crowd 

 of collectors, so as to do the thing thoroughly." 



A fortnight later he informed us that he was going to leave Couklowu 

 for New Guinea, iu order to engage " boys " as collectors and carriers, before 

 proceeding west (from Port Moresby). " The leeches are terribly bad at those 



