90 Proceedings. 



\Microscopical and Natural History Section.] 



Ordinary Meeting, December 7th, 1891. 



Alex. Hodgkinson, M.B., B.Sc., President of the Section, 

 in the Chair. 



There were exhibited : — 



By Mr. R. Wheeler, a collection of weapons, articles 

 of dress, etc., belonging to the native tribes inhabiting the 

 district around the Ogowe River, Equatorial West Africa. 



By Mr. J. COSMO Melvill, an almost complete set of 

 the ferns of Simla, N. W. Himalayas, collected by Mr. H. F. 

 Blanford, F.R.S., and numbering over one hundred 

 specimens of about eighty-seven species ; also a perfect 

 specimen of Papilio Antimachus (Drury), the rarest butterfly 

 known, on which Mr. Melvill communicated the follow- 

 ing note : — 



"For nearly 120 years, ever since Drury figured, and that 

 most excellently, a specimen of this rare butterfly in his 

 well-known work on exotic Lepidoptera, it remained almost 

 unique, until a few specimens were secured in the damp 

 forests at the base of Clarence Peak, in the island of 

 Fernando Po, off the Gold Coast region of Tropical 

 Western Africa. The late Mr. William Chapman Hewitson 

 possessed two specimens, and a few others existed in other 

 cabinets or came to hand from time to time. But its 

 extreme rarity was proved by the inadequacy of a very 

 high quotation to cause the demand to be supplied. Not 

 seven years ago one was offered for £$6, and two years 

 ago £10 was paid severally for a few specimens in fine 

 condition. Even now the female, being scarcer than the male, 

 would secure a high price. Professor Aurivillius made this 



