ON THE HETEROCEROUS FAUNA OF SOUTHERN 



RHODESIA. 



By Antonius Johannes Theodorus Janse, F.E.S. 



{Read, July lo, 1918.) 



The recognised faunal boundary for South Africa is the 

 southern banks of the Zambesi and Cunene Rivers and the 

 northern boundary of Ovamboland. We thus ol)tain a sub- 

 continent of great cHmatic diversity, and it would probablv be 

 possible to divide this whole country into at least five more or 

 less natural faunal regions : — 



(a) The Western fauna, comprising a portion of Damara- 

 land and the whole of Nama(|ualand ; 



{b) The Southern coastal region, which extends from near 

 the mouth of the Orange River to near Port Elizabeth ; 



(c) The South-Eastern coastal region, which reaches from 

 near Port Elizabeth to near Delagoa Bay and rises inland to an 

 altitude of about 3,000 feet ; 



{d) The Highveld region, which includes ])racticallv the 

 whole of the Orange Free State, a part of Natal and the Trans- 

 vaal, perhaps nearly the whole of British Bechuanaland, and the 

 higher parts of Southern Rhodesia : 



{e) The Northern region, which is made U]> of the lower 

 lands near the two rivers which form the Northern boundarv for 

 South Africa, and which is perhaps the least known yet most 

 important in proving that after all there is in reality no natural 

 boundary for South Africa. 



To these perhaps another may be added for the Karroo, but 

 I am not sufficiently acc|uaintcd with its fauna to express any 

 views on that i)art of the couiitrv. 



Of course, no hard and fast lines of demarcation can be 

 drawn between any of these regions, but judging from the 

 material which I have studied during the last 18 years, I feel 

 sure that such regions exist, and that in the main they follow 

 the contour-lines of the country. Wherever these regions meet 

 there is naturally a merging of the one into the other, and we 

 may even find what might be called faunal islands, such as 

 the Barberton region, which rs. (judging by its lepidoi>tera, 

 distinctly East Coastal, notwithstanding the fact that it is sur- 

 rounded on |)ractically all sides by high lands. A similar 

 island we find in Natal in the Karkloof Valley. 



It would take too long to deal with each of these faunal 

 regions separately, and it would involve the compilation of long 

 lists of names in order to bring out mv \ iews on the interesting 

 geographical distribution of -our Soutli African lepidojjtera, so 

 I have selected one Province to make my point clear, or, rather, 

 to draw attention to the fact that we know as vet so verv little 



