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LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED BY OSCAR NEUMANN IN 

 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



By THE Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, Ph.D., and KARL JORDAN, Ph.D. 



THE more important portion of the Lepidoptera of which we publish here 

 the first instalment of a report has been collected by Herr Oscar Neumann 

 during his expedition through Rchoa, the Arussi countr}', etc., southward to Lake 

 Abbaja, and thence westward to the Subat River, an affluent of tlie Nile. Herr 

 0. Neumann travelled in company of Baron Carlo von Erlanger from Zeyla to 

 Harar, and thence west- and northwards to Adis-Abeba. Tiien the two e.xplorers 

 separated. The Lepidoptera obtained during this joint expedition being also in 

 the Tring Museum, we have deemed it advisable to enumerate them together with 

 those collected by 0. Neumann farther west. It must therefore be understood 

 that the specimens dated from February to August 1900 were collected during 

 the expedition of "von Erlanger and Neumann," and those of a later date by 

 0. Neumann alone. Since the material is carefully dated, it forms a valuable 

 addition to our knowledge of the Lepidopterous fauna of the countries traversed, 

 having enabled us to compare minutely a good proportion of the forms inhabiting 

 these North-Eastern districts of tropical Africa with specimens from other parts 

 of the Aethiopian Kegion and from India. A summary of the results of our 

 research on these Lepidoptera will be given at the end of the report on the 

 collection. 



As a list of species and varieties from a certain district is of value for the 

 student of geographical distribution and for the sjstemalist only, if the names 

 under which the forms are recorded are really those which ajiply to the species 

 and varieties of that particular country, we have endeavoured to avoid mistakes 

 in identification as far as possible by a more detailed study of the North-East 

 African Lepidoptera and their allies from other countries than is geuerally the 

 case in works of this kind. The consequence is that we have been able to 

 characterise a number of new forms hitherto unknown or misidentified, and to 

 correct mistakes committed by previous authors. Sometimes we have had to work 

 right through a genus in order to find the correct names for the Abyssinian forms. 

 In such cases we have given a kind of jireliminary revision of the respective 

 genus. AVe have also added some new non-Abyssinian forms of such genera as 

 we had to deal with iu this jiaper. Only the forms collected by 0. Neumann, 

 either alone or together with Barnn von Erlanger, are enumerated under consecutive 

 numbers. 



In order to understand the relatioushij) of one faunistic region with another, 

 in our case of the " Abyssinian " fauna with the faunae of East and of West Africa 

 and of India, it is necessary to study the geographittal distinctions presented by 

 the individuals from tlie various countries. We know from experience how very 

 jin/./.ling lists of names of Lepidoptera with localities of capture can become to 

 the student, if the compiler of the list has neglected the geographical distinctions 

 and identified the insects carelessly. Such lists obscure the composition of the 



