EHOPALOCERA. 



25 



their slightly modified descendants. But there is no case of the kind 

 so striking as that of New Zealand, which, though 1 200 miles distant 

 from Australia, lies wholly in temperate latitudes (between 33° and 

 53° S.), is in extreme length 11 00 miles, and has an area not much 

 less than that of Great Britain and Ireland, but has not hitherto 

 yielded more than sixteen species, of which, as Mr. A. G. Butler points 

 out,^ six are probably of Australian origin, and one is a recent intro- 

 duction from America. This extraordinary scarcity is the more appa- 

 rent when it is remembered that the British Isles, one of the very 

 poorest countries in Europe for butterflies, have sixty-three undoubt- 

 edly native species. 



The total number of Rhopalocera now known to science must be 

 between ten and eleven thousand. Mr. W. F. Kirby's Synonymic Cata- 

 logue, published in 1 87 1, included about 7700 species, and his Sup- 

 plement of 1877 enumerated nearly 1800 additional forms brought 

 to light during the intervening six years, making together about 

 9500 species. Taking the fi^ve families in the order of their respective 

 numbers, it is found they stand as follows, viz, : — i . Nymphalidce, 

 4040; 2. Lycmnidce, 15 50; 3. Hcs-pcridoi, 1550; 4. Papilionida^, 

 1400; 5- JErycinidm, 900. The continual discovery of new species 

 is not likely to change this order of numerical relation between the 

 families ; but almost certainly the ranks of the smaller members of 

 the Lycmnidm and HcsperidcB will be largely augmented, and the great 

 disparity in numbers between those families and the Nymphalidm 

 proportionately reduced. When the twelve Sub-Families are placed 

 according to the number of species they respectively contain (the Lycm- 

 nidm and Hespcridm are excluded from this series, not being divided 

 into Sub-Families), they stand thus, viz. : — 



The Ethiopian Region, of which extra-tropical Southern Africa 

 constitutes a characteristic zoological province or " Sub-Region," has 

 all the families and eight of the twelve sub-families, the four of 

 the latter that are not represented being the Jlcliconino) and Brassolincn 

 among the NymphalidK, and the Erycinina: and Eurygoninm among 

 the Erycinidce. South Africa is poorer by one sub-family than the 

 Region, having hitherto yielded no representative of the JSfemeohiinm. 



4. Differences Presented by the Sexes. 

 With very few exceptions, the male is smaller than the female, and 

 his wings are comparatively narrower, the fore-wings often being more 



^ Trans. Wellington Philos. Soc, 1878, p. 263. 



