AN AFTERNOON AMONG THE BUTTERFLIES OF 

 THURSDAY ISLAND. 



By Gervase F. Mathew, R.N,, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.R.G.So , &c. 



The following account of an afternoon's collecting among the 

 butterflies of Thursday Island, on 18th of April 1885, may 

 perhaps be of interest, as it is a spot, I suspect, which is not often 

 visited by an entomologist. 



Thursday Island is the central and smallest of a group of islands 

 lying in Torres Straits, off the North Coast of Australia, and 

 situated between latitude 10-30 and 10-58 south, and 146-6 and 

 142-20 east longitude. The other islands of the group are 

 Hammond, Goode, Wednesday, Friday, Horn, and Prince of 

 Wales Islands, with numerous small islets. Prince of Wales 

 Island is the largest, being eleven miles long, by ten miles broad. 

 They are all hilly, and the hills, from the sea, appear to be densely 

 wooded, as are also the valleys between the hills. Most of the 

 islands possess numerous small bays, some of. them with an ample 

 sandy beach, while others are fringed with belts of mangrove 

 bushes. In some of the islands, between the ranges of hills, there 

 are wide plains but thinly wooded with eucalypti, and, after the 

 rainy season covered with high grass. Springs of water are to be 

 found on nearly all the islands throughout the year, and after the 

 rains there is generally a profusion in the gullies and water holes. 

 Thursday Island being so small is but poorly provided, and the 

 inhabitants store up rain water in tanks to meet their necessities 

 during the dry season, the water in the water holes being unfit for 

 human consumption. 



Thursday Island is one and a half miles long by about three 

 quarters of a mile wide, and has a range of hills running half 



