THE LATE JOHN HENRY LEECH. 35 



which he fortunatel}^ escaped, but which, by reason of the 

 quarantining and fumigating that he was subjected to, caused 

 him endless trouble then and for two months afterwards in 

 Japan. After a short stay at Gensan, where his assistant, Mr. 

 Smith, was left to collect, he returned at the end of June to 

 Nagasaki, and thence commenced to travel, chiefly by land, to 

 Yesso, the northern island of Japan, arriving at Hakodate on 

 Aug. 5th. From the latter place he visited Nemoro and the 

 Kurile Islands, but the results, from an entomological point of 

 view, were not satisfactory, and he returned to Hakodate, finally 

 making his way to Yokohama, vin Sendai on the east coast of 

 Central Japan, and reached that city at the end of September. 

 Here he met the late Mr. Henry Fryer, whose extensive collection 

 of Lepidoptera (less a portion of the "Micros") and Neuroptera 

 he purchased en bloc. Before returning to England native 

 collectors were engaged to work in Corea and the island of 

 Kiushiu during the following year. 



In 1887 Mr. Lionel de Niceville accompanied Mr. Leech in his 

 travels throuj^h the North-west Himalayas, when a large collec- 

 tion of Lepidoptera was made, and some very interesting species 

 obtained, among them being several new to science, which have 

 since been described by Sir George F. Hampson in his ' Moths 

 of British India.' Some of the experiences connected with this 

 trip appear to have been of a somewhat hazardous character, 

 as, for example, when working among the glaciers of Baltistan, 

 at an altitude of 18,000 ft. or thereabouts, Parnassius cJiarltonius 

 was met with. The nature of the locality did not afford anything 

 in the way of a comfortable, not to say safe, camping pitch. 

 Mr. Leech, however, being aware that this species, and also 

 Colias eogene and some other desiderata, were to be had in this 

 inhospitable situation, was determined not to move far from the 

 spot without obtaining a good series of each species. The coolies 

 were therefore set to work to level out a space so that the tents 

 might be fixed up ; this was accomplished, and two or three 

 days were spent on the mountain side, and the coveted quarry 

 secured, the series of C. eogene including some most remarkable 

 aberrations. In 1887 also Mr. Pratt was engaged by Mr. Leech 

 to proceed to China, with special instructions to investigate the 

 insect fauna of the Yang tze Valley. This he did for two seasons, 

 and when Herr Kricheldorff, a German collector, was sent out to 

 assist him in 1889, they, together with a number of natives, 

 journeyed into Western China, and explored the country almost 

 up to the Thibetan frontier ; a second journey was made in 1890. 

 In 1888 Mr. W. H. McArthur was commissioned to collect in 

 parts of the North-West Himalayas, and was away two years, 

 returning with a very fine collection. In 1891 Capt. B. Thomp- 

 son went out to the ground previously worked by Mr. McArthur ; 



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