( 323 ) 



ON A LARGE COLLECTION OF RHOPALOCERA FROM THE 

 SHORES OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA. 



By S. a. NEAVE, B.A., F.E.S., Magdalen College, Oxford. 



(Plate I.) 



^"^HE following list of butterflies comprises the eoliectiou made by Mr. C. A. 

 J- Wiggins from the eud of October 1902 to the end of May 1903 ou the shores 

 of the Victoria Nyanza. The specimens were collected either by him or by native 

 boys under his direction. Mr. Wiggins' headquarters were at Kisnmn, 3800 ft., 

 situated close to the terminus of the railway. The country around Kisumu is 

 mostly open plain, without even scrub, but here and there patches of woodland 

 whence come a large number of the Pierines. Mr. Wiggins collected from two 

 localities south of Kisumu — the Kalachonyo Plain, a large open plain some ten 

 miles south along the shore, 37.50 ft., and in the Ugaia conntry, 3800 ft., which 

 is ou the other or south side of the Kavirondo Gulf, and seems to have been 

 partly woodland. Nyangori is a few miles north and a little east of Kisumu, and is 

 forest land, height .5000 ft. The Tiriki Hills are still farther north, about twenty 

 miles from Kisumu, and covered with dense forest, height 5100 ft. Mr. Wiggins 

 describes catching many of the Tiriki specimens " at one spot about ten yards 

 square, by a river of shallow mud and water in the forest. To get to it I had 

 to wade for two hundred yards up to my waist in a swamp of black mud." The 

 Usemi specimens come from an open plain some fifteen miles west of Kisumu 

 on the lake shore, lieiglit 3800 feet. Mr. Wiggins describes it as "open plain, 

 no scrub except euphorbia trees round old villages." 



Entebbe is 160 miles west of Kisumu, on the N.W. shore of the lake, upon 

 some hills about 4000 ft. above the sea. The country is open plain, with here 

 and there patches of dense forest. 



The Toro specimens were captured by natives for Major Rattray, who gave 

 them to Mr. Wiggins. They come from the Toro country, on the eastern slopes 

 of the Ruwenzori Mountains, 7000 to 9000 feet., the country being apparently 

 in large part woodland or forest. 



In the following tabular statement* of species and numbers I have arranged 

 the localities from the Ugaia country, on the east shore of the lake, along the 

 north shore to Entebbe on the N.W. shore, and lastly the Toro country still 

 farther west.. As will be seen, the last two localities are the most distinctly 

 western in character, lying as they do on the eastern outskirts of the great 

 western Equatorial Forest. At the same time outlying patches of forest country, 

 such as the Tiriki Hills, near the N.E. shore, produce very many western species, 

 though also containing certain peculiar forms. It would therefore seem, though 

 further evidence on the subject is required, that the escarpments east of the lake 

 form a more distinct line of demarcation between eastern and western species 

 than the lake itself. 



* See pages 341—363. 



