( 310) 



LEPIDOPTERA FROM BRITISH NEW GUINEA, COLLECTED 



BY MR. A. S. MEEK. 



By the Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, Ph.D. 



(Plates II. and III.) 



THE stimnlns to my eagerness for Mr. A. S. Meek to e.xplore the higher parts 

 of the Oweu Stanley Range was given by the wonderful discoveries made 

 by Herr Emil Weiske both in birds and Lepidoptera. The bulk of Herr Weiske's 

 Lepidoptera came into my possession after Herr Ribbe had described as new 

 thirteen species oi Picridae and a marvellous Papilio {Insekten-Bdrse x\\\. 1900). 

 Of these several Pieridae were not new to science, but enough remained to show 

 ns that the watershed of the Aroa River, where Weiske's specimens came from, 

 must have a wonderful and rich lepidopterous fauna. Mr. Meek proved this up 

 to the hilt. 



After several years of vain endeavours, I at last persuaded Mr. Meek to 

 undertake the very difficult journey to the head-waters of the Aroa River. Though 

 the distance, as the crow flies, from the coast to the Upper Aroa River is but 

 short, Mr. Meek and his party had to battle against immense difficulties and 

 undergo many hardships before they reached a favourable collecting ground. 

 Mr. Meek stayed in a district called Avera from the end of January to the 

 beginning of April lOO;), and made here a collection of nearly 16,ti00 specimens 

 of Lepidoptera. Among these is a ? of Troides goliath titan, a series of both se.xes 

 of Troides meridionalis, a long series of Papilio tveiskei, several Delias discovered 

 by Weiske, and a very great number of new moths. 



However, the altitude of the place was not great enough. Therefore Mr. Meek, 

 soon after his return to Port Moresby, started again for the interior, boldly facing 

 a second time the hardships of a climb up the mountains. This time a higher 

 altitude was attained. But the work had scarcely been started at Owgarra, north 

 of the head of the Aroa River, when a great disaster befell the expedition. Nearly 

 the whole party contracted measles and had to hurry back to the coast, where 

 Mr. Meek arrived with the loss of one native collector, who died. It was a very 

 unfortunate ending to what promised to be the greatest scientific haul ever made 

 in Lepidoptera in New Guinea, and we sincerely hope that Mr. Meek will meet 

 with better luck on his next expedition to these regions. 



The collection of Lepidoptera, though consisting of only 500-odd specimens, 

 proves those high altitudes to be inhabited by a i)roportionately very great number 

 of species which do not occur at lower elevations. The variety of the genus Delias 

 is beyond every expectation. Mr. Meek procured not only all the species discovered 

 by Weiske, but obtained in addition seven new ones. The finest discovery, 

 however, is the new Troides, by its banded abdomen so unlike everything known. 

 What may the S be like ? We hope that Mr. Meek, the discoverer of the 

 peculiar tailed S of meridionalis, will also succeed in finding the t? of the present 

 species. 



