404 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part hi. 



which are absent from Australia proper. Such of these as are 

 common to the Malay archipelago as a whole, have been already- 

 noted ; we shall here confine ourselves more especially to the 

 groups peculiar to the region, which are almost all either 

 Australian or Austro-Malayan, the Pacific Islands and New 

 Zealand being very poor in insect life. 



Lepidoptera. — Australia itself is poor in butterflies, except in 

 its northern and more tropical parts, where green Ornithopterce 

 and several other Malayan forms occur. In South Australia 

 there are less than thirty-five species, whereas in Queensland there 

 are probably over a hundred. The peculiar Australian forms 

 are few. In the family Satyridae, Xenica and Heteronympha, 

 with Hypocista extending to New Guinea ; among the Lycae- 

 nidae, Ogyris and Utica are confined to Australia proper, and 

 Hypochrysops to the region ; and in Papilionida?, the remark- 

 able Eurycus is confined to Australia, but is allied to Euryades, 

 a genus found in Temperate South America (La Plata), and to 

 the Parnassius of the North-Temperate zone. 



The Austro-Malay sub-region has more peculiar forms. Hama- 

 dryas, a genus of Danaidae, approximates to some South American 

 forms; Hyadcs and Hyantis are remarkable groups of Morphidse; 

 Mynes and Prothoe are fine Nymphalidae, the former extending to 

 Queensland ; Dicallaneura, a genus of Erycinidae, and Elodina, 

 of Pieridae, are also peculiar forms. The fine JEgcus group of 

 Papilio, and Prianxus group of Ornithopterce, also belong exclu- 

 sively to this region. 



Xois is confined to the Fiji Islands, Bletogona to Celebes, and 

 Acropthalmia to New Zealand, all genera of Satyridae. Seven- 

 teen genera in all are confined to the Australian region. 



Among the Sphingina, Pollanisus, a genus of Zygaenidae, is 

 Australian ; also four genera of Castniidae — Syncmon, Euschemon, 

 Damias, and Cocytia, the latter being confined to the Papuan 

 islands. The occurrence of this otherwise purely South American 

 family in the Australian region, as well as the affinity of Eurycus 

 and Euryades noticed above, is interesting ; but as we have seen 

 that the genera and families of insects are more permanent than 

 those of the higher animals, and as the groups in question are 



