viii PREFACE 



New Guinea is evidently the remnant of a 

 continent which has sunk beneath the sea for the 

 greater part, only the higher elevations granting 

 a refuge to the fauna and flora. When the land 

 rose again to some extent, the newly-formed islands 

 and the coast districts of the main island became 

 populated by an invasion from the west, this new 

 Malayan element in the fauna being, on New Guinea, 

 most prominent in the lowlands and foothills, and 

 extending far south in tropical Australia, whereas 

 the original Papuan element is more evident at the 

 higher altitudes than at the lower. 



The largest and most beautiful butterflies of New 

 Guinea are the metallic species of a genus best known 

 as Ornithoptera, of which A. S. Meek had the good 

 fortune of discovering several new ones, among them 

 the largest of all butterflies, Ornithoptera alexandrae. 

 I named this beautiful insect after her Majesty 

 Queen Alexandra, it being a near relative of Orni- 

 thoptera victoriae. One of these metallic species, 

 O. priamus, occurs from the Moluccas to the Solomons 

 and New South Wales in orange, green, and blue 

 varieties, another of them (0. victoriae) is found only 

 in the Solomons, while no less than seven are re- 

 stricted to New Guinea (O. alexandrae, O. chimaera, 

 O. goliath, O. meridionalis, O. paradisea, 0. rothschildi, 

 and O. tithonus). 



The rich, velvety-black garb of the male of these 

 butterflies, ornamented with metallic green, blue and 



