A FEW NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF BARBADOS. 175 



up breaking the stem and destroying the specimen. Sometimes 

 several are found grouped together within a foot of each other ; 

 but it requires a practised eye to distinguish the tiny stem among 

 its surroundings of a similar hue. It is often rooted up and eaten 

 by the wild pigs, and in the Taupo country I found the wood-hen 

 digging up and devouring it. When fresh it has a pleasant nut- 

 like flavour." 



In this abstract I give Sir Walter's description of the plate 

 accompanying his paper. The measurements and remarks on 

 the plate should, I think, prove of interest in the absence of 

 specimens. W. W. Smith. 



Ashburton, New Zealand, March, 1895. 



A FEW NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF BARBADOS. 

 By Sidney Crompton, F.E.S. 



The existing published information about the Lepidoptera- 

 Rhopalocera of Barbados (the most eastern of the Caribbee 

 Islands) is not only scant and meagre, but also difficult of access. 

 The chief or oldest authority on the natural history of the island 

 is Mr. Griffeth Hughes, A.M., whose book on the subject was 

 published in 1750. Copies of this book are exceedingly scarce. 

 As might be surmised of a treatise published so long ago, it is 

 not conspicuous for great scientific accuracy or lucidity of exposi- 

 tion. The full title of this rare volume is ' The Natural History 

 of Barbados. In ten books. By the Reverend Mr. Griffeth 

 Hughes, A.M., Rector of St. Lucy's Parish in the said island, 

 and F.R.S. London. Printed for the Author ; and sold by most 

 book-sellers in Great Britain and Ireland. MDCCL.' 



Our other source of information is * The History of Barbados,' 

 by Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, Ph.D., in one volume. In this 

 book (published in 1848) there are two chapters devoted to 

 natural history, one treating of organic nature as developed in 

 Barbados, and one of animated nature. The first treats of the 

 botany and marine sponges of the island, and the second chapter 

 is given to a more or less popular account of the Radiata, Insecta, 

 Arachnida, Crustacea, Mollusca, Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and 

 Mammalia. 



Besides these two books, the one by Hughes and the one by 

 Schomburgk, both now out of date and out of print, there is, of 

 course, Charles Kingsley's well-known and delightful narrative, 

 ' At Last.' This aims at being little more than a narrative of 

 the author's impressions of the W^est Indian Islands, but in- 

 cidentally there is mucli in the book treating of natural history, 

 including some observations on the butterflies of Trinidad and 



