38 KHOPALOCERA MALAYANA. 



As ref'ards the distributiou of the Satijriiur, Prof. Westwood has calculated that the number 

 of the European species is considerably greater than one-third of the whole number of European 

 Uhopalocerar whilst Mr. Kirby estimates them as nearly a third, f It is in this region that the 

 lower forms of grasses are very abundant, for, as Meyen has pointed out, these (the grasses which 

 form meadows and pastures) are peculiar to the colder regions and to the colder half of the tem- 

 perate regions ; they are replaced by larger arborescent forms in the subtropical zone and within 

 the tropics. I This large percentage of Satijrinw to the whole Rhopalocerous fauna probably 

 extends throughout the Palearctic region, § but of the butterflies of Northern and Central Asia we 

 still know very little. Even in China, Mr. Pryer, giving the results of a short entomological 

 excursion, says, " The commonest butterfly was one of the Satjiridic, which subsequently turned 

 out to be not only a new species, but a new genus." || It cannot, however, be postulated that the 

 averao-e numerical distribution of the grasses is in proportion to the average numerical distributiou 

 of the Satijriiiw, for whereas, according to De Candolle's statistical review, the Old World and Asia 

 especially is richer in grasses than the New, for though in the latter the grasses rarely amount to 

 as much as ten per cent, of all the flowering plants in the various districts, usually only nine, 

 occasionally only seven per cent., they generally amount to ten and often to twelve per cent, in the 

 Eastern Continents. II I found from an estimate made from Mr. Kirby's Catalogue (1871) that 

 the approximate equivalence in the number of genera and species as found in the Old and New 

 Worlds** was exceedingly close and quite surprising in that respect. However, the number of 

 genera peculiar to Tropical America are greater than those which are peculiar to any other region, 

 the Oriental Eegion being next in that respect, but only to less than half the extent, ft 



According to Dr. Thwaites, I ]; the Ceylonese specimens of SatiiniKc are inactive and fly 

 near the ground, amongst grass and close to the margins of woods. Their movements, 

 however, are more lively in the early morning and evening during their amatory gambols. §§ 

 They have also been observed on the Amazons by Mr. Wallace, |||| and in South Africa by 

 Mr. Trimen.lTIF whose record of their flight is similar to that of Dr. Thwaites, and agrees with 

 my own observations in Province WeUesley. Mr. Wallace adds to his Amazonian account that 

 he did not remember to have ever seen any species rise four feet from the earth, whilst the 

 greater number of them did not exceed as many inches ; and Mr. Trimen noticed that those 

 species which did not possess the basal inflation of the nervures of the anterior wings possessed 

 greater powers of flight and a more robust structure generally. 



The colour of these butterflies is generally of a sombre hue, dull brown being the usual tint of 

 the upper surface, though exceptions to this rule, as might be expected, are not infrequent. There 

 often appears to be some correlation between obscure colours above and ocellated spots beneath, 



* Doubl. & Westw., Geu. Diurn. Lep. vol. ii. p. 352. f ' Eiuopeau Butterflies,' p. 45. 



I 'Botauical Geography' (Ray Soc), p. 107. 



§ These statistics do not apply to the Nearctic Region, for Mr. Scudder, in discvissing the disparity in numbers of the 

 Nymphalida; of Europe and N. America, remarks that such "is almost wholly due to the vast number of Satyrs, or Meadow 

 Browns in Europe — it has seventy-seven species — while we have but nineteen." — ' Buttei-flies,' p. '264. 



II Ent. Mo. Mag. xiv. p. 54. ^ Quoted by Peschel, ' The Races of Man,' p. 412. 



'■'■* The Satyrid faunas of the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions were compared with those of the Palearctic, Ethiopian, 

 and Oriental Regions. 



ft Wallace, Geogr. Distrib. An. vol. ii. p. 471. [ [ Lep- Ceylon, i. p. 13. 



§§ Mr. Swinton, who has paid much attention to this branch of Entomology, states that many butterflies pair at 

 noontide when the sky is overcast (' Insect Variety,' p. 92). 



nil Trans. Ent. Soc. 1857, p. 201. "HH Rhop. Afr. Au.str. p. 185. 



