EHOPALOCERA. 43 



I have seen but one example on one occasion. The long isolation of 

 the present Cape peninsula from the mainland by a wide arm of the 

 sea between the existing False and Table Bays, where the sandy 

 " Flats " now extend, is the probable explanation of much of this 

 poverty of butterfly life ; but the violent winds that sweep the whole 

 tract render it a highly unfavourable station ; and it must also be 

 remembered that, as far as is known, the entire western and north- 

 western districts of the Colony are but little more productive in the 

 Rhopalocera. The " karoo " tracts universally, but especially the more 

 northern and elevated ones beyond the second mountain range travers- 

 ing the Cape Colony from west to east, are apparently exceedingly poor 

 in butterflies, though possessing some peculiar forms of SatyrincB and 

 Lycmnidoe. 



It is only when we progress eastward along the belt between the 

 first mountain range and the sea-coast, that the Rhopalocerous fauna 

 finds conditions more and more favourable for its development. Thus, 

 at Knysna, where extensive forests of large trees clothe a large area, I 

 collected, during nine months' residence, sixty-two species ; and I have 

 no doubt that a more prolonged investigation of the district generally 

 would yield several others. Considerably farther eastward, the Albany 

 district (especially the neighbourhood of Grahamstown, where Mrs. 

 Barber and other good collectors have resided) has produced eighty- 

 three species ; and, from the little that has been done at Port Alfred, 

 at the mouth of the Kowie River, I anticipate that this number will 

 be considerably increased when that part is attended to by a resident 

 collector. British Kaffraiia (chiefly the vicinity of King William's 

 Town) yielded ninety-four species to the researches of Mr. W. S. M. 

 D'Urban many years ago, and the rich district of East London, when 

 properly worked, will undoubtedly add largely to the local list. Across 

 the Kei River, in the wooded valley of the Bashee, Colonel Bowker 

 collected i 1 7 species, and added several others from the Tsomo (the 

 principal tributary of the Kei) and other parts of the teri'itory. From 

 the Bashee River northward, little is On record respecting the native 

 butterflies until reaching D'Urban, on the coast of Natal, where the 

 augmentation of their ranks is most remarkable. At this spot, the 

 Rhopalocera become a constant and beautiful feature of the scenery, 

 and, from their size, abundance, and beauty, cannot be overlooked by 

 the most casual observer. I was so much struck with their prevalence, 

 that, on several days during the summer of 1867, I made a careful 

 register of all the kinds met with. The most productive day was the 

 4th February, when, in a radius of certainly not more than three miles 

 from the town, I captured or determined with certainty no less than 

 fifty-four species,^ and believe that several examples which I noticed 



1 One more species than the vicinity of Cape Town has yielded to careful research by 

 many collectors, and by myself for twenty-five years, even including the six occasional 

 stragglers named in the text. Such a "bag" in a single day's collecting compares well 

 even with Mr. Wallace's experience (mentioned above) of the rich Malayan Islands. 



