1X11 LLOYD S NATURAL HISTORY. 



furnish an exception to the rule that mountainous regions 

 are the richest in Butterflies. The marvellous exuberance 

 and variety of the vegetation is such as to counterbalance the 

 influence of mountains in stimulating variety ; and the great 

 river-valleys of South America are probably richer in species 

 of Butterflies than any other part of the globe. But in the 

 south, towards Buenos Aires and Chili, the number of species 

 diminishes very rapidly, till it falls below the average Euro- 

 pean standard; and as we approach the extreme south of 

 the Continent it is probable that the number of Butterflies 

 dwindles even below the productiveness of Greenland. 



It is a mistake. to suppose that the Tropics are always rich 

 in Butterflies, or that all tropical Butterflies are beautiful. In 

 proportion to the productiveness of a country in a state of 

 nature, is often its unproductiveness when cleared and cul- 

 tivated. Not only are thousands of tropical Butterflies as 

 small and dull-coloured as the most inconspicuous of our 

 own, but the Indian representatives of European or Japanese 

 species are often much inferior to the latter in both size and 

 beauty. 



ON THE HABITS OF EAST INDIAN INSECTS, ESPECIALLY 

 LEPIDOPTERA. 



The following interesting paper, by the well-known Dutch 

 collector, M. C. Piepers, was published in the " Proceedings 

 of the Dutch Entomological Society," vol. 19. It is of so 

 much interest that, by the kind permission of Mr. T. P. New 

 man, I am glad to place it on record in a more permanent 

 form, by reprinting here my English translation, which 

 appeared in the "Entomologist" for November, 1875. 

 The footnotes are my own. (W. F. K.) 



" When I collected our indigenous Butterflies in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Arnhem many years ago, I observed that several 



