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A PKELIMINAKY LIST OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF 



MALTA. 



By Thomas Bainbeigge Fletchek, R.N., F.E.S. 



The Maltese group of islands consists of the main island of 

 Malta and the smaller one of Gozo, separated by a narrow 

 channel some three miles in breadth, in which lie two small 

 islets, Conino and Cominotto, whilst off the southern shore of 

 Malta is an isolated rock called Filfala. The area of the whole 

 is some 116 square miles. 



The group is situated in latitude 36° north and longitude 14^ 

 east, on a submarine bank which connects Sicily with Africa, and 

 which here divides the Mediterranean into an eastern and a 

 western basin. The distance from Sicily is about sixty miles, and 

 from the nearest part of Africa some two hundred. In former 

 days, there is little reason to doubt, this bank must have formed 

 a land connection between what are now Africa and Sicily, and 

 the Maltese Islands are the insignificant remnants of land, now 

 submerged, which must then have nourished an extensive flora, 

 and have been the home of many remarkable mammals, birds, 

 and reptiles, whose remains have been discovered in the rock- 

 fissures and caves of Malta. 



At the present time the flora much resembles that of Sicily. 

 The indigenous mammalia include the hedgehog, rabbit, and 

 weasel. Lai'ge numbers of migratory birds visit the islands on 

 their passage across the Mediterranean, but only some half- 

 dozen species remain throughout the year. The reptiles include 

 two snakes {Coronella austriaca and Callopdtis leopardina) , and 

 three or four lizards, the commonest of which {Lacerta muralis) 

 is to be seen everywhere, running over the fields and clambering 

 about the walls. 



A noteworthy feature is the low elevation and flatness of the 

 islands. Although the land rises considerably in the western 

 parts, the highest point in the group is only some 800 ft. above 

 sea level. The country is, however, traversed in many dis- 

 tricts by deep and narrow valleys, which have apparently been 

 scooped out of the rock by torrential rains. These valleys, 

 locally called " wieds," are the principal home of the native 

 vegetation, and therefore form the best collecting-ground for the 

 biologist. 



Owing to the flatness of the land and the scantiness of the 

 soil, the fields are enclosed by high walls of sandstone in order 

 to protect the crops from the strong winds which often prevail in 

 the winter months. On first approaching from the sea the whole 

 country seems nothing but rock, since these walls are seen 

 rising one above another, and to trudge along a high road is 



