288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and Lyccena. The conspicuous handsome crimson-ringed Apollo 

 {Parnassius apollo), which is perhaps the most typical butterfly of 

 the Alps, also abounds in many situations. A precisely parallel 

 case is presented in the great elevated pseudo-arctic plateau in 

 Scandinavia known as the Dovrefjeld. 



We will now consider some statistics in support of the 

 foregoing contention. The late Mr.H.W. Bates, who spent eleven 

 years of his lifetime in the immense tropical forests of the 

 Amazons, informs us that the number of species of Ehopalocera 

 which he procured in the neighbourhood of Para was 700, their 

 corresponding total in the Alps amounting to about 200. The 

 number which constituted his daily " haul " fluctuated between 

 40 and 70, though upon several occasions it rose as high as 100. 

 But the number of specimens he took of each species was 

 exceedingly small, only averaging one or two apiece, with few 

 exceptions. He in fact experienced extreme difficulties in 

 securing a series of a great many species, to obtain which a good 

 deal of patience and perseverance was required, even with those 

 of average plentifulness. Almost every day new kinds would 

 crop up, and often but a comparatively small proportion of those 

 he captured the previous day would show themselves on the 

 succeeding one, as the following extract from his diary will 

 exhibit : — " On Tuesday, collected 46 specimens of 39 species. 

 On Wednesday, 37 specimens of 33 species, 27 of which are 

 difi'erent from those taken on the preceding day." He adds, 

 however, that the number of specimens would be increased if he 

 had reckoned all the commonest species seen. These data may 

 be taken as fairly typical. 



At Ega Mr. Bates obtained 550 species in the course of four 

 years. In the Malay Archipelago Dr. A. E. Wallace says that 

 any of the islands will produce from 150 to 250 species after a few 

 months' assiduous collecting, and that 30 or 40 may be procured 

 any fine day in good localities. The eastern equatorial regions, 

 therefore, fall far short for richness when compared with their 

 equivalents in the western hemisphere, where twice the number of 

 species per day constituted the average capture of Mr. Bates ; but 

 it IS probably the case that the proportion of specimens to species 

 in the two regions is not the same, a greater percentage of the 

 former possibly occurring in the Malay Islands than in the 

 neotropical forests ; but unfortunately Dr. Wallace has omitted 

 to say anything on this score in his interesting work on the great 

 ' Oriental Archipelago,' from which I have abstracted the preceding 

 information. 



Now in the Alps, as I have already remarked, a great many 

 individuals per capita, on the average, seems to be the prevailing 

 rule. In support of this I will furnish a few figures from my own 

 personal observations. On the Eiffel Alps above Zermatt I 

 captured in the course of six hours 250 fine specimens represent- 



