X PREFACE. 



would yield interesting results. Yet amongst the few which have 

 been described there are two new genera, and nothing that was col- 

 lected appears to have Ijeen ol)tained before.^ 



FORMICID/E. A very small number of Ants were met Avith in 

 the interior. All were insignificant in size, and at no place were they 

 so numerous as to be an inconvenience, — though the reverse was the 

 case at Guayaquil. It was at this place, in my bedroom, I secured, 

 casually, the only remarkable ant obtained on the journey — the Holco- 

 ponera described by Mr. Cameron (p. 92). 



LEPIDOPTERA. A great number of Butterflies are found in the 

 interior, belonging to a comparatively small number of species. The 

 lower zones, on the other hand, are exceedingly prolific in species ; and 

 it is no exaggeration to say that a larger number may be obtained 

 in some of them in one day than can be secured from 8000 feet 

 upwards in an entire year? In returning towards Guayaquil we took 

 what is termed the railway route, and were arrested at the Bridge of 

 Chimbo (about 1000 feet above the sea) by want of a train. Whilst 

 waiting, in little more than half an hour, we collected the twenty-two 

 species which will be found enumerated between pp. 96-110, on a j^icce 

 of ground not more than 300 yards long by 100 broad, and saw not 

 less than a dozen others which we should have secured had we worked 

 a little longer. In the interior, from 8000 feet upwards, our endeavours 

 during six months only procured 28 species, and we certainly did not 

 see so many as half a dozen others which were not captured. 



^ The following appear in this volnmc. Flcdonotum nigrum, Gorham (pp. 51-2) ; 

 Listrus cenescens, Gorham (p. 53) ; Scyvmus ? (p. 58) ; Apion Andinum, Olliff (p. 78) ; 

 Ltqwrosoma marginata, Jacoby (p. 87) ; and Phcidole ononticola, Cameron (p. 93). 

 Tlie Panecillo had been visited by Humboldt and Bonpland, Buckley, Ida rfeillei', 

 Reiss and Stlibel, and by many others. 



- I am informed by Messrs. Godman and Salvin that the described species of 

 Lepidoptera which are reputed to have come from Ecuador now exceed one 

 thousand ; and there is little doubt that the lower zones contain many more as 

 yet unknown. Very incorrect localities have been, I think, cpioted as habitats of 

 the described species. 



