38 Dr. G. B. Longstaff’s Notes on 
that month I took but about half-a-dozen flies. Mr. H. P. 
Gosse, in his altogether admirable “ Naturalist’s Sojourn in 
Jamaica,” expresses his surprise at the scarcity of insects, 
in words that seem to merit quotation. “I had left 
England with high expectations of the richness of the 
West Indian entomology: large and gaily-coloured beetles, 
I supposed, would be crawling on almost every shrub, 
gorgeous butterflies be filling the air, moths be swarming 
about the forest-edges at night, and caterpillars be beaten 
from every bush. These expectations were far from 
being realised: . . . in general butterflies are to be ob- 
tained only casually. Moths are still more rare... 
in general beetles and the other orders are extremely 
scarce, and especially Diptera ; I have often been astonished 
at the paucity of these, as compared with their abundance 
in Canada and the Southern United States.... One 
may often walk a mile,—I do not mean in the depth of 
the forest, but in situations comparatively open, beneath 
an unclouded sun,—and not see more than a dozen 
specumens of all orders” (pp. 94, 95). 
I was told that something between sixty and seventy 
species of butterflies occur in Jamaica, and it is a surpris- 
ing fact that such a large tropical island should not pro- 
duce more species than Great Britain. During my ten 
weeks’ collecting I obtained forty-seven species, as com- 
pared with thirty-six species that are to be found in the 
one Devonshire parish of Mortehoe. Indeed for the most 
part I found Jamaica poorer in butterflies than Mortehoe 
in the summer. There were but two occasions on which 
the numbers were comparable, both near Port Antonio. 
On the afternoon of February 25th I was ferried over to 
Navy Island. The Trade-wind was blowing rather strongly, 
and the only sheltered spot was some swampy ground to 
the leeward of a bluff; here Anartia jatrophe, Linn., was 
in the greatest profusion, many being busy about the 
flowers of the Logwood-trees(Hxmatoxylan campeachianum, 
Linn.), with them were a few Dione vanillz, Linn., and one 
Precis lavinia, Cram. 
The other time was on March 3rd, near the top of 
“Shotover,” to the west of Port Antonio. Here, about 
1000 feet above sea-level, on a spur of a somewhat 
higher hill, commanding a glorious view of sea and coast, 
was a steep slope with an aspect a little south of east. 
An acre or two of this slope, partly sheltered by trees, 
