II. Western Equatorial African Micro-lepidoptera. By 

 The Eight llonble. LORD WALSINGHAM, M.A., 

 LL.D., F.R.S. 



[Read Dec. 2nd, 1896.] 

 PLATES II. and III. 



I AM indebted to the Rev. Dr. W. J. Holland for the 

 opportunity of making known some interesting additions 

 to the African Micro-lepidoptera from a locality hitherto 

 uuvisited by any collector of these small but instructive 

 forms. Kangwe, on the Ogowe River (where the Rev. 

 A. C. Good collected the specimens communicated by 

 Dr. Holland), is situated only two miles south of the 

 equator, and the collection, as might be expected, affords 

 several examples of the more brilliant colouring and 

 abnormal structure which distinguishes the equatorial 

 fauna in other regions. The specimens, unfortunately, for 

 the most part are in only moderate condition, but are 

 sufficient to indicate that an experienced collector could 

 find a rich harvest of novelties if he should possess also 

 the qualifications of a sportsman and be indifferent to the- 

 aggressive curiosity of the very numerous lions which, I 

 am informed, make night collecting absolutely impossible* 

 and in this instance confined it exclusively to lamp-light 

 on the upper floor. 



This small collection still further emphasises the 

 alliances undoubtedly prevalent between the Micro- 

 lepidoptera of the two regions lying on opposite sides of 

 the great dividing barrier of the Atlantic Ocean, especially 

 about those degrees of latitude tending southward from 

 the equator. But, while emphasising this fact, the 

 collection possesses a still greater interest from the 

 evidence which it affords that the African continent forms 

 a strong connecting link with the eastern as well as with 

 the western fauna. Some of the genera included in this, 

 paper, such as Idiothauma and Mictopsichia, have repre- 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1897. PART I. (APRIL.) 3 



