THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 83 



NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF VICTORIA. 



By F. G. a. Barnard. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 

 8th April, i88g.) 



-In offering a paper on such a subject as " The Butterflies of Vic- 

 toria," I feel I owe some explanation or apology to the Club for 

 the presumption, on my part, of appearing to set myself up as an 

 authority on Victorian lepidoptera. Three reasons, principally, 

 have led me to place these notes before you. Firstly, to interest, 

 and, if possible, instruct the lovers of entomology among our 

 mfembers ; secondly, to endeavour to record, somewhat in their 

 natural sequence, those species of butterflies which have up to the 

 present been taken in Victoria ; and, thirdly, to provoke criticism 

 among our lepidopterists, several of whom, I feel sure, are better 

 able to deal with the subject than I am. 



My knowledge of Victorian lepidoptera is limited to those 

 species commonly seen about Melbourne, and therefore, in order 

 to do justice to the colony, I have made use of the collection at 

 the National Museum as the basis for my notes, and have to 

 acknowledge the courtesy of our fellow-member, Mr. W. Kershaw, 

 in allowing me full access to the cabinet there. I have also to 

 acknowledge the great assistance received from a little pamphlet 

 just issued by the Natural History Association of New South 

 Wales, on "Australian Butterflies," written by Mr, A. Sidney 

 Ollifif, F.L.S., Assistant Zoologist, Australian Museum, Sydney, a 

 copy of which was acknowledged by the librarian to-night. Follow- 

 ing the classification and arrangement adopted therein, which is 

 the same as that adopted in Kirby's " Text Book of Entomology," 

 butterflies (Rhopalocera) are divided into five families, all of 

 which are represented in Australia, but only four of them in 

 Victoria. 



The first family is the Nymphalidse, characterized by the fore 

 legs of both sexes being undeveloped, the foot or tarsus being 

 rudimentary. This family is divided into four sub-families, three 

 of which are represented in Victoria. The first is the Danainae of 

 which there are three Australian genera, but the genus Danais is 

 the only one of which specimens have been taken in Victoria. 

 Two species have been captured here, but neither of them can, I 

 think, be considered endemic. Danais plexippus, Linn. — syn. D. 

 archippus — is the large orange-red butterfly with black markings 

 which is becoming somewhat common around Melbourne, and is 

 known as the American butterfly, as it is supposed to have grad- 

 ually spread from that quarter of the globe. It is easily known by 

 its slow flapping flight. I have not noticed any specimens of this 

 species this season, but perhaps that is because I have not been 

 able to devote much time to collecting. The other species of 



