On the Rhopalocera of Northern Borneo. 41 



A monograph of Antedon rosacea for the use of students 

 has jet to be written ; but we must first endeavour to arrive 

 at some general consensus of opinion respecting the character 

 and relations of the vascular system, not merely in the 

 Crinoids, but also in the other Echinoderms ; and I am in 

 hopes that tlie researches of Perrier and Prouho, of Ludwig 

 and Hamann, and of those English naturalists who are 

 attracted by the subject, will soon bring this very desirable 

 end more within our reach than it appears to be just at 

 present. 



IV. — On the Tihopalocera of Northern Borneo. — Part I. 

 By W. L. Distant and W. B. Peyer. 



[The butterflies here enumerated and described were collected 

 by Mr. Pryer at, and in the neighbourhood of, Sandakan, and 

 all notes as to the habits, times of appearance, &c. of the 

 species are contributed by him, and are the results of his own 

 observations. His colleague in the preparation of this paper 

 desires to draw attention to the exceedingly close relationship 

 of this portion of the Rhopalocerous fauna of Borneo with 

 that of the Malay peninsula, a large percentage of the species 

 being common to both areas, whilst where specific distinc- 

 tion exists it, in most cases, partakes largely of a local and 

 racial character.] 



The district of Sandakan, where a considerable number of 

 the species mentioned were caught, is almost entirely one 

 unbroken forest. Unbroken forest is not at all good collect- 

 ing-ground for butterflies^ which are very rare in its gloomy 

 depths, while its thick leafy cover, rising 200 feet above the 

 ground, is also but little frequented by them. The place 

 where I chiefly resided, Elopura, having been but recently 

 cut out of the virgin forest, the nearest clearing being twenty 

 miles away, it was a long time before butterflies found their 

 way there, consequently my opportunities for coflecting were 

 not so good as if I had been in a more cleared part of 

 the country. As all the surrounding district is flat land 

 the sameness of the vegetation causes a sameness of insects ; 

 an exploration of the high land in the interior would no doubt 

 bring to light a largely different fauna. 



Some distance up the rivers there are many old abandoned 

 village sites in all stages of low regrown jungle, and when- 

 ever I found myself in such a locality a fair take of butter- 

 flies was always the result. A collector in the tropics, 



