groii-p of Butter Jlies, Potaro District, British Guiana. 419 



It appears evident from the specimens that the banding 

 of the hind-wing and the presence of the red marks before 

 the apex of fore-wing go together. It is also significant 

 that these specimens have been secured in one or other 

 of the two dry seasons. My own specimen, with an indi- 

 cation of a band in the hind-wing, has also the red marks 

 before apex and was taken on March 27th, 1905, the end 

 of the short dry season. Professor E. B. Poulton's banded 

 specimen has also red marks before apex and was taken 

 on August 28th, 1903, the early part of the long dry season. 



In view of the great interest attached to this species as 

 to whether it is the centre of the association of the dark- 

 ened hind-winged insects, it may be useful here to look at 

 the range of the insect. From the limited material avail- 

 able it seems certainly to be most plentiful in British 

 Guiana. It occurs in the Berbice district adjoining 

 Surinam, and from the only two specimens seen from 

 there one shows a tendency to banding above and strongly 

 below, the other is normal, both have indications of red 

 apical marks on upper-side and strongly developed 

 beneath. Six specimens originally in the Godman and 

 Salvin collection now at South Kensington are labelled 

 Roraima. This must mean somewhere in the Rofaima 

 district and not the mountain itself, which is bare rock 

 and out of the Forest region. None of these six are at 

 all banded, either ahove or helow, and only one shows any 

 apical marks, and that is only weakly and on the under- 

 side. These six specimens are therefore interesting as 

 suggesting a more extreme dark form away back in the 

 interior of the country. A single specimen has the label 

 " Bartica," a place 40 miles in from the mouth of the Esse- 

 quibo, and I myself took it there, though only singly. 

 The only locality outside of British Guiana that I have 

 been able to discover is a specimen with a label " Colombia," 

 which like the Roraima specimen is now in South Kensing- 

 ton, but originally in the Godman and Salvin collection. 

 Were it not that all insects in the latter collection have 

 been set up and labelled with the greatest care one would 

 be inclined to discredit the locality. The specimen is a 

 very interesting one. It is strongly banded below, and 

 both above and below has exceptionally strong red apica 

 marks. 



Of the other two Melinxa species there is little variation 

 to record. Melinsea egina is extremely constant on the 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906. PART III. (j AN. 1907) 28 



