1904.] 187 



SOME NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF THE "CURTIS" 

 COLLECTION OF BRITISH INSECTS. 



BY JAMES J. WAI/KKK, ll.N., F.L.S. 



In a brief note in lliis Ma^ii/.iiKr for IMiircli, 1901 (vol. xxxvii, 

 p. 7(5), I gave an account of the excellent state of ])reservation in 

 wliicli I found the famous " Curtis " Collection, now for more than 

 forty years deposited in the Victorian National IMuseumat Melbourne. 

 At the time of my first visit to that city, the conditions for a 

 thorough examination of the Collection were by n(j means favourable, 

 as, with the other insects belonging to the Museum, it was tempo- 

 rarily stored in the Exhibition building in the grounds of Melbourne 

 University. It could only be then looked at, drawer by drawer, in a 

 very narrow space between two piles of cabinets, lighted by a windov^ 

 sadly in want of cleaning, and it was not possible to make any but a 

 cursory inspection of the insects. 



On my second visit to Melbourue in July, 1903, I found that the 

 whole of the Collections had been transferred to the fine Museum 

 buildings in Sw^anstou Street, and were arranged in the basement, in 

 very dry and commodious quarters, but lighted only by incandescent 

 electric light. This, however, I found suflicient to enable me to make a 

 close and critical inspection of the entire series of British insects origin- 

 ally belonging to John Curtis. I must again tender my best thanks to 

 Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, F.R.IS.,the Director, and to Mr. James 

 A. Kershaw, F.B.S., the Curator, of the Museum, for their kindness 

 in giving me unrestricted access to the Collection, and thus enabling 

 me to carry out this examination in a thorough manner. The second 

 inspection fully confirms the opinion formed by me on my first visit, 

 as to the excellent condition of the whole Collection. In going over 

 the Lepidoptera especially, I found so many beautiful and striking 

 varieties, as well as so many specimens of historic interest, from their 

 association with the most beautifully illustrated work on the Ento- 

 mology of our Islands which has ever appeared, that I am tempted 

 to give a brief account of some of them. A few extracts from 

 Curtis's MS. register, which accompanied the Collections to Mel- 

 bourne, will also, 1 hope, be found interesting, as few, if any, 

 Entomologists now living can have had any personal acquaintance 

 with John Curtis or his collections. 



Curtis died on the Gth October, 1862, and his Collections were 

 probably shipped to Australia not later than the beginning of 186i, 

 as the records of the Victorian National Museum show that a sum of 



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