( xxxvii ) 



Concerning frohenia he writes: — "Jamais JVejytis frobenia 

 n'a ete rencontre a Madagascar — du moins d'apres ce que je 

 connais — mais seulement a I'ile Maurice." 



" Quant aux Euplcea, je crois gnudoti speciale a File Bourbon ; 

 eupkone, a Maurice ; desjardinsi, a llodriguez ; et mitra, aux 

 Seychelles. Je posscde les 4 espoces. Mais jamais je n'ai i-eeu 

 aucun exemplaire de goudoti, ou eiq^hone a Madagascar." 



I am also informed by Mr. H. Gi'ose-Smith, F.E.S., that 

 he has never received any of the following species from 

 INtadagiiscar : — Xeptis dumetorum, N. frohenia, Eujdaa eujihoiie, 

 and E. gnudoti. The erroneous statements as to the occur- 

 rence in Madagascar of certain species of Enplcea and Nep)tis 

 confined to the outlying islands, are probably duo to Mabille ; 

 but they are unfortunately repeated, although sometimes 

 queried, by Aurivillius. 



Each of the four outlying forms of Neptis may therefore 

 be looked upon as the product of its own island, and a very 

 interesting problem of evolutional history is presented to us. 

 One great difficulty in attempting its study was the want of 

 specimens from the Comoros and Mayotte. So far as I am 

 aware the single specimen of mayottensis in the British 

 Museum is the sole example of these two forms, in this country. 

 I therefore wrote to Monsieur Charles Oberthiir, of Rennes, 

 asking for information concerning the pattern of comorarum. 

 With great generosity my kind friend at once presented to 

 the Hope Collection the interesting examples of conwrarxim, 

 mayottensis, dumetorum, and the Madagascar form of saclava 

 which are now exhibited. The two specimens of comorarum 

 and the mayottensis formed part of the collection made by 

 L. Humblot (1885-6). 



Comparing the four species it is at once evident that the 

 eastern pair dumetorum and frohenia, are related together and 

 quite distinct from the north-western pair, mayottensis and 

 comorarum, which are even more closely related to each other. 

 Furthermore, as we should expect from their more isolated 

 position, the eastern species are far more distantly removed 

 from the Madagascar saclava than the north-western ; while 

 in each pair tlie species from the outer island is far more 

 remote from saclava than the species in the island which is 



