( ixxxig,} 
Four species of a genus resembling and nearly allied to 
Chrysophanus, all of which are endemic. 
Two species of a genus allied to Frebia, peculiar to the 
mountain ranges of the South Island. 
And one very striking butterfly, Argyrophenga antipodum, 
whose nearest allies are found in the mountains of Chili. — 
Papua and its islands, with the extreme northern pro- 
montory of Australia, ought, on the evidence of its butterflies, 
to form with the Moluccas and Celebes a province of the 
Indo-Malay region ; and the Pacific Islands do not, as far as 
we know, possess anything like the number of peculiar or 
characteristic forms of insects to justify their separation, 
the majority of the Lepidoptera known from them belonging 
to very wide-ranging and Malayan genera. Thus we find, 
that even if the Australian region is to rank with the other 
great divisions of the earth, it must do so for the present 
rather on negative than on positive evidence. 
I must now conclude what I fear to some of my hearers 
has been a somewhat tedious address, but which I hope may 
give rise to an interesting discussion at our next meeting. 
The specimens illustrating it will be, by the kind permission 
of Sir W. Flower, deposited in the British Museum for a 
time, in order that they may be more closely examined by 
anyone who wishes to do so. If I shall have succeeded in 
leading some of our Fellows to pay more attention to a most 
interesting branch of our subject, I shall feel, however, that 
your time has not been wasted. The subject of distribution 
is one which requires sound systematic work as a basis, but 
cannot be profitably studied by systematists alone without 
some knowledge of the geographical, meteorological, and 
geological features of the earth. All of these are essential 
aids to the proper consideration and appreciation of the 
numerous difficulties we meet with in trying to explain the 
facts which are presented to us, and a knowledge of all of 
them will add immensely to the interest and pleasure of 
travel, which I look on as an essential part of the education 
‘of a modern naturalist. . 
