70 INTRODUCTION. 



gascar, in Bengal, China, Java, New Holland, Bra- 

 zil, and North America ; so that it may be called a 

 complete cosmopolite. Of the four quarters of the 

 globe, Europe is poorest in these insects ; and next 

 to it is Africa. Asia, including the great islands of 

 .the Indian Archipelago and America, are both ex- 

 ceedingly rich. Of the former, the islands seem to 

 be much more prolific than the continent ; they are 

 the exclusive haunts of the gigantic Ornitkoptera, 

 several of the largest and most richly coloured of 

 the Pierides, as well as several of the most remark- 

 able species of the genus Morpho. South America 

 produces a greater number than any other country ; 

 and Brazil, always preeminent for its exuberance 

 both in animal and vegetable life, may be said to be 

 the richest portion of the new continent. It has 

 been estimated by an individual who has enjoyed 

 the advantage of personally examining the country, 

 that Brazil alone affords between 600 and 700 spe- 

 cies of diurnal lepidoptera, a calculation which seems 

 in no degree overcharged. Among these are many 

 genera peculiar to America, such as Heliconia, Cast- 

 nia, Erycina, &c. In almost every one of its phy- 

 sical properties, Africa affords a complete contrast 

 to the country just named ; and however favourable 

 its arid soil, and far-extending desarts of parched 

 and drifting sand, may be to the existence of certain 

 peculiar races of coleoptera, it is by no means gene- 

 rally adapted to the support of creatures which de- 

 rive their entire sustenance from vegetable juices. 

 The sea-coast, and umbrageous banks of the larger 



