1908.] 09 



"Aden of the Caribbean Sea" proved less hoi khan we had been led 

 to expect, for a mantle of heavy clouds came far down the mountains 

 that almost seem to overhang the town. A push was made to the 

 most promising spur, a little to the west, where a fair number of 

 butterflies were seen, though few were taken. The extremely steep 

 slopes appeared to consist of bright red clay scantily clothed with 

 small bushes, amongst which a species of Cistus predominated. 

 Pursuit was almost out of the question, and one's operations were 

 not facilitated by the well-meant attentions of some small Indian 

 boys. 



On examination at home my captures proved to be Itliomia 

 iphianassa, Dbl. and Hew. ; Ageronia ferentina, Godt., and Tmolus 

 cambes, Godm. and S., one of each. Of the last named Mr. II. H. 

 Druce informs me that the type came from Mexico, and that it has 

 not previously been recorded south of Guatemala. There were also 

 a worn specimen of Sphcenoqona gratiosa, Dbl. and H., two of Terins 

 albula, Cram, (one of them having the black border of the hind-wing 

 unusually pronounced), and two of the Skipper, Reliopetes laviana, 

 Hew. With these Butterflies were a very few insects of other 

 Orders. 



I landed on the Venezuelan shore for the second time March 17th, 

 1907, but on this occasion the whole afternoon was spent in struggling 

 with the authorities of the port, so that it was necessary to spend 

 a night at La Guaira. The next day a halt at Zigzag Station, about 

 1500 ft. up the railway to the Capital, enabled me to sample the 

 insect fauna. Butterflies were very plentiful, and 1 ran back to the 

 railway carriage with specimens of Actinote antceas, Dbl. and H. ; 

 Euptycliia pliares, Godt., a species that I did not see again ; Pliyciodes 

 leucodesma, Feld. ; Terias albula, Cram., and Hesperia sijrichthus, 

 Fabr., together with sundry wasps, bugs, and grasshoppers. 



The railway after many teri*or-inspiring twists gains access to 

 the capital by a gap in the mountains on its western side. 



Caracas stands at a mean altitude of 3200 ft. above the sea in 

 North Lat. 10° 30'. The city is beautifully situated on a plateau 

 sloping southwards to the Rio Guaire ; this plateau is open to the 

 East towards Petare, closed to the West by the Observatory Hill 

 some three hundred feet above the plain ; on the South it is bounded 

 by two low ridges that separate Caracas from El Valle, but on the 

 North it is dominated by a lofty range of mountains, which rising: 

 abruptly from the valley culminate to the North West in Silla, 

 8760 ft., and Naiguata, 9300 ft. 



