xlii 



as of great steepness. The distance marched from the crest of the 

 Andes to the Napo was ahout 150 miles. The whole region, hill and 

 valley alike, is clothed with dense and luxuriant forest, and lying 

 under the equator, with constant drenching rains caused by the 

 condensation, on the cold edge of the Ancl^ean plateau, of the 

 vapour-laden winds from the warm plains to the eastward, the 

 country is a j^erfect hot -house, reekmg with moisture, and offering 

 the most favourable conditions to the abundance of insect life. The 

 population is scanty, composed chiefly of semi-civilized Indians, 

 living in small scattered villages. Food is scarce, and hunger adds 

 greatly to the difficulties of the traveller, worn and exhausted b}^ 

 hard work in such an atmosphere. The remoter parts are still 

 occupied by wild Indians hostile to the whites, and Mr. Buckley was 

 obliged to leave many promising valleys unvisited on this account, 

 his Indian guides refusing to encounter the risk of accompanying 

 him. He remained as long as health and strength were able to 

 withstand the strain to which hunger and the sweltering climate 

 subjected them, and then returned across the Andes with his 

 precious cargo to England. 



As Mr. Buckley carefully recorded the precise locality of ever}^ 

 specimen he took, we might expect to obtain from his journey those 

 much-needed facts regarding the geographical relations of closely- 

 allied species in Andean valleys, which, notwithstanding that so 

 many collectors have worked for years past in New Granada, 

 Ecuador and Peru, have never yet been afforded. A complete 

 list, with localities, would be of the greatest interest, and it is to 

 be hoped that Mr. Hewitson, who alone has had the opportunity 

 of studying the entire collection, will accede to the general wish 

 expressed at our last Meeting, by giving this information. 



The mention of this subject leads me to make a few remarks on 

 geographical distribution, by way of illustrating what is meant when 

 we say that questions of high scientific importance depend upon it. 

 The idea of the value of localities in connexion with specimens or 

 species, with some Entomologists, I am afraid does not reach very 

 far. They like to know in what countries the different forms are 

 found, and perhaps, as in French collections, show the distribution 

 by writing the specific names in their cabinets on kibels coloured 

 according to the part of the world the species inhabit ; the primary 

 divisions of the world, as Europe, N. and S. America, Africa, 



