chap, xiv.] THE NEOTROPICAL REGION. 15 



American species not only surpass all others in size and beauty, but 

 some of them are so gorgeous on the under surface of their 

 wings, as to exceed almost all the combinations of metallic tints 

 we meet with in nature. The last family, Hesperidte, is also 

 wonderfully developed here, the species being excessively nu- 

 merous, while some of them redeem the character of this generally 

 sober family, by their rich and elegant coloration. 



In the only other group of Lepidoptera we can here notice, 

 the Sphingina, the Neotropical region possesses some peculiar 

 forms. The magnificent diurnal butterfly-like moths, Urania, 

 are the most remarkable ; and they are rendered more interesting 

 by the occurrence of a species closely resembling them in 

 Madagascar. Another family of day-flying moths, the Castniidse, 

 is almost equally divided between the Neotropical and Australian 

 regions, although the genera are more numerous in the latter. 

 The American Castnias are large, thick-bodied insects, with a 

 coarse scaly surface and rich dull colours ; differing widely from 

 the glossy and gaily coloured Agaristas, which are typical of the 

 family in the East. 



Coleoptera. — This is so vast a subject that, as in the case of the 

 regions already treated, we must confine our attention to a few of 

 the more important and best known families as representatives 

 of the entire order. 



Cicindelidse. — We find here examples of 15 out of the 35 genera 

 of these insects ; and 10 of these genera are peculiar. The most 

 important are Oxychila (11 sp.), Hiresia (14 sp.), and Ctenostoma 

 (26 sp.). Odontochila (57 sp.) is the most abundant and cha- 

 racteristic of all, but is not wholly peculiar, there being a species 

 in the Malay archipelago. Tetracha, another large genus, has 

 species in Australia and a few in North America and Europe. 

 The small genus Peridexia is divided between Brazil and Mada- 

 gascar, — a somewhat similar distribution to that of Urania noticed 

 above. One genus, Agrius, is confined to the southern extremity 

 of the continent. 



Carabidse. — Besides a considerable number of cosmopolitan 

 or wide-spread genera, this family is represented by more than 

 100 genera which are peculiar to the Neotropical region. The 



