40 



imagines I do not know ; but the imagines are always regarded as 

 nauseous species and, to a large extent, protected by their unpalat- 

 ableness. Certain it is that they are often excessively abundant, 

 and we know that some ppecies — such as Hijjioleria ocalea (vide 

 " Trans. Ent. Soc," 1904, p. 22G) — can complete their meta- 

 morphoses in three weeks or less, and that the total larval period 

 may last no longer than nine days. They are continuously brooded 

 in all warm districts, such as in British Guiana and in Trinidad at 

 sea level ; but whether they are so at elevations of 3,000ft. or more 

 in S. Brazil, where the temperature drops to freezing point at night 

 in the winter or dry season, I am unable to say. The geographical 

 distribution of the ItJiomiiud' is roughly the tropical and subtropical 

 countries of South and Central America. Three species, iJinriuia 

 kliii/il, C'eratinia Ij/castf and MecJtanitis californica, just reach up to 

 the southern border of the United States, but only rarely ; while to 

 the South, in the Argentine, very few species are to be found, and 

 only in the North of the Republic. Vertically, some species mount 

 up to close on 10,000ft., such as It/iomia ejiona in Ecuador, while 

 others are found in the hottest fluvial valleys on the equator. At an 

 elevation of about 3,000ft. probably more species are to be found 

 than at any other. Near Caracas, in Venezuela, at this elevation, 

 I found Ithomiines swarming ; hundreds of individuals in the aggre- 

 gate, divided amongst some twelve species. Dr. Longstaff, who visited 

 the same locality eight years subsequently, found all but three of the 

 species I had taken besides five others, making fourteen species in a 

 small area some 50yds. by 10 yds. In the "Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine," Vol. xix., p. 76, 1908, he gives a list of the species he 

 took. To these I can add Heteroscns (jiulia, Pteronyiiiia starkei and 

 Ephcada aijlpha, thus making no fewer than seventeen species, 

 divided amongst eleven genera for this small restricted area. To 

 prevent confusion, it should be said that ItJunnia cumothn'c and 

 Ithoiiiia xi/lrella are now placed in the genus Miraleria, and not in 

 Ithowia as recorded by Dr. Longstaff. The eastern slopes of the 

 Andes in Columbia, Peru and Ecuador, also furnish a great 

 abundance of species, and each locality or district generally favours 

 a particular type of coloration. This is always so in the case of the 

 genera MeUnaa and Mechauitis, and nearly always so with Ceratinia 

 and Napeoi/encs, together with many other species of different genera 

 which mimic them. With the genera Dircenna, Epithuinia, Ithuinia, 

 Calloleria, Hi/poscada, Leiicnthi/ris, Episcada, Pteroni/niia, Miraleria, 

 Aeria, ]'ela)in/sta, Hypnleria, Pseiidoscada, Disiiienitis and Heterosais, 

 which include species which are for the most part transparent, there 

 is also a scheme of colouring running through different geographical 

 groups of species, but the colouring is not always confined to one 

 district or area such as is the case with Meliiu/a and Mechanitis, 

 and the various species that mimic them. Thus, a black and 

 transparent group is to be found in Costa Rica, in E. Peru, in the 

 Guianas, in S. Brazil, and in almost any suitable locality where 



