1884.] 225 



The ship left Coquimbo on September 28th, arriving at Valparaiso on the evening 

 of the following clay, and reiiiained there until October 8th. The -weather through- 

 out our stay was fine (though there had been torrents of rain just before our arrival), 

 and I enjoyed several very pleasant rambles over the steep, bush-covered hills on the 

 lower slopes of which the town is partly built. These hills attain an elevation of 

 1200 to 1500 feet, and on them I found insects in greater plenty, or at any rate in 

 greater variety, than at Coquimbo. Here I toot the recently described and very 

 pretty Satyridce, Neosatyrus violaceus and ochreivittatus, Butler, not uncommonly 

 among the tall " Coligne " or arborescent grass, over which the little blackish-brown 

 ' N. ambiorix, Wallgr., was often to be seen flitting quietly, making me think of our 

 Erelia JEpiphron. Oeometrce were fairly well represented, especially in the deep 

 " quebradas " or ravines, where the vegetation is much more luxuriant than on the 

 open hill-sides, and I obtained a good many species new to me. I had a day at El 

 Salto, some eight miles by rail from Valparaiso, and was much pleased to add to my 

 collection, among other things, the large and delicate cream-coloured Pierid, Helio- 

 chroma leucothea, Gay, which was apparently just coming out of pupa, and not rare, 

 though very difiicult to catch. 



On October 18th we again left Coquimbo, this time for our old location at Callao, 

 ■where we arrived on the 25th. During the remainder of this month, and throughout 

 November, insects were very scarce, and, indeed, are not much more plentiful now ; 

 in marked contrast to the swarms of such common butterflies as Agraulis vanillcBy 

 Pieris sp., Danais Archipptis , Junonia Lavinia, Anariia jatrophcB, &c., which enliven 

 the damp meadows and lucerne fields from February to June. Almost the only insect 

 worthy of mention I have obtained is Papilio Pceon, of which a few larvee liave again 

 turned up. Here I may correct a mistake I have made as to the food-plant of this 

 fine species (Ent. Mo. Mag., Vol. xix, p. 53), which is not, as there stated, the 

 common parsnip, but an allied plant, Arracacha esculenta, a native of the higher 

 regions of the Andes, and grown in small quantities about Lima and Callao. It 

 closely resembles parsnip in the general aspect and properties of its foliage, but the 

 root is altogether larger and more tuberous in growth. Larvas of two or three species 

 of Ealesidota (a genus allied to Arctia, &c.) are not uncommon on various plants, 

 one being remarkable for its dense clothing of pure white hair, which assumes a de- 

 licate canary-yellow tint just before the larva spins up. The resulting moth is a very 

 pretty little pale ochreous species, with darker pencillings. The Indian corn is here 

 very subject to the attacks of the larva of a dull-looking species of Agrotis ?, which 

 eats out the soft central shoot of nearly every young plant, and causes great damage 

 to the crop. A few Qeometrce, and many species of small Pyrales, are to be obtained 

 by beating : but with the exception of the large horned Golofa, which flies at dusk 

 over the tops of the low willow trees on the plain, scarcely a beetle is to be obtained 

 at Callao, at this time of the year.— J. J. Walker, H.M.S. " Kingfisher." 



Agathidium rhinoceros near Colinton. — In November I had the good fortune to 

 take, near Colinton, a few specimens of Agathidium rhinoceros, Sharp. It is a very 

 local species. I only took it on a patch about twenty yards square. I searched 

 the whole wood carefully, and only found it on the one spot. — Alfred Beaumont, 

 Low Valleyfield House, Culross : January 2Wi, 1884. 



