172 Mr. Henry J. Turner o)i the Butterflies of Cyprus. 



"It is interesting to note that silk- worms were intro- 

 duced into Cyprus in the sixth century in the reign of the 

 Emperor Justinian I." 



The Island is somewhat square in shape, having a range 

 of mountains bordering the northern shore and a second 

 range in the south of considerably greater height, with the 

 extensive mountain knot of Troodos over 6000 ft. in ele- 

 vation, while between these lies an extensive plain from 

 east to west right across the Island, an area which all the 

 sunnner is very hot and dry, almost a desert. 



Standing as it does at the junction of the S. European 

 Mediterranean area and the converging lines of palaearctic 

 and tr()])ical Asian influence, Cyprus must needs be most 

 interesting from a faunal aspect. The bulk of the species 

 are European, most of them variants of the commoner 

 species of the Central Mediterranean littoral, such as 

 P. machaon, P. brassicae, P. rdpae, P. dajdidice, A. crameri 

 (belia), E. canlam'mes, G. deopatra, C. edusa, S. hermione, 

 S. briseis, H. semele, P. aegeria, P. megera, P. maera, C. 

 jasius, L. rivularis, P. atalanta, E. polycfdoros, D. pandora, 

 L. celtis, B. quercus, R. phlaeas, S. baton, A. medon, P. icarus, 

 C. argiolus, C. alceae, and T. acteon. While from the 

 Asiatic siide are derived P. chloridice, Y. asterope, S. anthe, 

 S. anthelea, S. roxelana, E. iehmssia, E. lupinus, C. tlier- 

 samon, L. boeticus, T. balcanicus, S. telicanus, C. trochilus, 

 C. phiala, G. paphos, C. acamas, G. nostrodamus and P. 

 mathias. D. chrysippus may be either Asian or African 

 in its immediate origin, as also may S. telicanus, P. mathias 

 and C acamas. 



Takhig a negative view, exclusive of the unconfirmed 

 records of more than sixty years ago, there is an absence of 

 Hesperias, Erebias, Brenthids, Argywnids (1), Melitaeids, 

 Ruralids (1), Lycaenas, Plebeiids, Agriades, etc., and of 

 truly tropical species except L. boeticus, which is very 

 common. 



1 am much indebted to my friend Mr. G. F. Wilson of 

 Nicosia for the very large amount of material he has so 

 kindly collected for me during the last three years, and 

 also for furnishing me with practically all the previous 

 records of the Rhopalocera of the Island. My best thanks 

 must also be accorded to Sir John A. S. Bucknill for per- 

 mission (through Mr. (4. F. Wilson) to make use of copious 

 extracts from his MS. records. For the numerous sug- 

 gestions and notes on the unconfirmed records and on the 



