r 
Oct. 21, 1886] 
NABERE 
597 
inaccuracies have crept into the report, but we leave them 
as they stand. The impression produced by English 
scenery, vegetation, and gardening on unaccustomed 
eyes is difficult to realise by those to whom they are the 
common-places of every day. 
Dr. Schweinfurth opened his discourse with the remark 
that England under the influence of a summer sun such 
as it had enjoyed this year deserved to be called the 
most beautiful country in the world. Indeed, the 
ordinarily serious and matter-of-fact man of science 
seemed to be filled with enthusiasm when relating his 
observations on botanical institutions in England. He 
assured them that although he had spent weeks in 
London he was only in a position to offer them a frag- 
mentary report on the subject. It is true the amiable 
orator had provided himself with very considerable 
fragments. 
He first of all gave a detailed description of the world- 
wide renowned Kew Gardens, which he compared to a 
botanical “ Ministry for the Exterior,” inasmuch as there 
the reports of all the embassies and agencies flow 
together. The development of this gigantic establish- 
ment presents similar phases to that of the Berlin Botanic 
Garden. Originally a kitchen garden for the Royal 
Court, it has during this century expanded to its present 
size of about 250 acres. Independently of its varied and 
enormous botanical treasures, Kew Gardens is one of the 
most beautiful examples imaginable of park-like arrange- 
ment. Everything luxuriates in the most glorious foliage ; 
not a dead leaf nor a dry stalk was to be seen. Everywhere 
the most untiring and intelligent care was evident ; and 
the manner in which the most delicate plants are brought 
to their fullest development must excite the universal 
admiration. The entire administration of this extensive 
establishment is as simple as it is worthy of imitation. 
Kew Gardens contain a vast herbarium which is pre- 
served in a simple light building with open galleries run- 
ning all round, in which work may be done during the 
day, but no lights are permitted. Along the walls are 
placed the cabinets containing the dried plants, which are 
poisoned with a solution of corrosive sublimate. The 
arrangement of the species is geographical. A magni- 
ficent library and an extensive collection of drawings 
greatly supplement the usefulness of the herbarium. 
The way in which the plants are stuck on sheets of 
paper throughout their whole surface was deprecated by 
Dr. Schweinfurth. 
Further, Kew Gardens contain seventeen large plant- 
houses, among which he specially mentioned those de- 
voted to orchids, succulents, and tropical plants, including 
the palm-house, a building of about the same length as 
the Berlin palm-house, though by no means so lofty. Of 
the most beautiful part of the Garden, the colossal rockery 
of Alpine plants impressed Dr. Schweinfurth most, as it 
was in its greatest floral richness at the time of his visit. 
There are also three spacious museums, situated at 
some distance {rom each other, which is a disadvantage ; 
though from the enormous number of visitors—sometimes 
as many as 80,000 in a day—the separation may have 
appeared necessary. One of the museums contains a 
collection of useful vegetable products in various stages 
of development and manufacture. Another building 
contains the picture gallery founded by Miss Marianne 
North, consisting of 800 botanical landscapes from all 
parts of the world. They mostly represent the general 
aspects of plants, and their purely scientific value is 
unequal ; but the great care with which the fruit is always 
painted is worthy of all praise. 
LEPIDOPTERA IN THE SIKKIM HIMALAVA 
pees has long been celebrated among ento- 
mologists as one of the richest localities in the 
world for insects, and especially for Lepidoptera, which, 
owing to the fact of their meeting a ready sale among 
visitors to the station, are collected as a matter of business 
by twenty or thirty of the Lepcha and Bhotea inhabitants 
of Sikkim. 
But though many of the superb insects found here are 
common in collections, little or nothing is known as to 
their distribution, habits, and time of appearance, as no 
resident naturalist has ever done much at collecting or 
observing their habits in person. The number of species 
is so great, many of them so rare or so uncertain in their 
appearance, and the difficulty of studying their habits so 
great, that there is ample room for many years’ work in 
this direction, and the lists which have been published 
by Mr. De Niceville in several recent numbers of the Fow7- 
nal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, together with the very 
numerous additions to the known species made by Mr. 
O. Miller, show what a rich harvest is still to be gathered 
by one who does not fear exposure to the tropical heat 
and risk of fever in the low hot valleys where most of 
them are taken. 
Having spent several days recently in observing the 
butterflies of Sikkim, I may give some idea of their habits 
and haunts. 
First, and by far the most numerous, are the butterflies 
belonging to the fauna of the Indo-Malay region, which 
inhabit the low damp valleys from the level of the plains 
up toabout 3500 or 4ooo feet. This region is extraor- 
dinarily rich in the genus Papilio, of which there are at 
least thirty species almost confined to it, though some of 
them on hot sunny days fly far up into higher elevations. 
Most of these species are many-brooded, and begin to 
appear in March, continuing till the end of the rains to 
fly in greater or less numbers. Some of them, however, 
are only single-brooded; almost all of these appear 
before the rains, from March to the end of May or June. 
In the hot valleys they fly at all times of the day up till 
4 or 5 p.m., and are only to be procured in quantity and 
in good condition by those who know their habits, the 
flowering trees they frequent, the wet spots in the sandy 
banks of rivers, where they associate in great numbers to 
settle, and the most attractive baits by which to allure 
them within reach of the net. This is the sort of work 
which the Lepcha excels in. He likes the wandering free 
life in the jungles far better than steady work, and, filling 
his boxes in two or three days without much exertion by 
waiting in the favourite haunts of the butterflies, he earns 
a handsome wage by selling his booty at a pice apiece. 
He will not trouble himself to catch the small and incon- 
spicuous Lyceenidze and Hesperidie, unless specially in- 
structed to do so; but, as a fact, these two families are 
the most numerous in species, if not in individuals, and 
would probably together amount to at least 200 species in 
Sikkim, almost all of which, as far as I can learn, are 
found in this zone of altitude. 
Nymphalidz also are very numerous and very varied, 
though more difficult to procure. The females of some of 
them, as well as of some Papilios, remain unknown, or are 
very rare, notwithstanding the abundance of the males. 
They do not fly much, or frequent the open sunny places, 
but remain settled high up on trees, or in dense jungle, 
where it is impossible to penetrate or to use a net. Many 
large and splendid moths of the family Agaristide are 
mostly day fliers,and innumerable Bombyces, Geometers, 
and Sphinges also frequent these hot valleys, and are 
bred or captured in various ways by the Lepchas, but 
seldom by Europeans. During the rains, when they are 
most abundant, the risk of fever at night is too great for 
much lamp work, and breeding is by the natives but little 
understood. The smaller moths, especially the Micro- 
lepidoptera, remain almost unknown, though some of the 
most showy sometimes finda place in the boxes .of the 
Lepchas. 
When we come to the zone of elevation between 3009 
and 6000 feet, we come into a climate which produces the 
