492 LORD WALSINGHAM ON THE [NoV. 17, 



2. On the Micro-Lepidoptera o£ tlie West Indies. By 

 the Rt. Hon. Lord Walsingham, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.,&c. 



[Received NoTember 17, 1891.] 



(Plate XLI.) 



This paper is founded upon a collection of Micro-Lepidoptera 

 made by Herbert H. Smith in the Island of St. Vincent, and placed 

 in my hands by Mr, E. DuCane Godman. In order to identify the 

 species it was necessary to study carefully all the descriptions of 

 West-Indian forms which might probably be found among them. 

 It is possible that some may yet have been overlooked, as they are 

 scattered through a mass of periodical publications in at least three 

 languages. Having so far made myself acquainted with the literature 

 of the subject, it seemed desirable to supply such information as 

 would facilitate a study of the geographical distribution, and with 

 this view a tabulated index to all the West-Indian species is included 

 in the paper. It has not been attempted to define or to follow any 

 already defined faunistic West-Indian region ; the term is used 

 simply in its geographical sense, and includes the whole range of 

 islands stretching from Yucatan to the coast of Venezuela. It 

 would be interesting in this connection to obtain a representative 

 collection from the peninsula of Florida and the adjacent 

 islands, approaching, as they do, so nearly to the northern coast 

 of Cuba, especially as the few species I have seen from that 

 locality are remarkable, not only for their beauty and distinctness, 

 hut also for their evident alliance with the genera, and almost 

 with the species, which have reached us from the mouth of the 

 Amazons and from the northern portion of Brazil. It will be 

 seen that, so far as our present knowledge extends, the Micro-Lepi- 

 doptera of these islands are somewhst highly specialized. Several 

 new genera are described and others are mentioned which have not 

 as yet been recognized elsewhere ; but it must not be presumed that 

 these will not ultimately be found to have a wider distribution. Had 

 we been dealing with the Rhopalocera, or with any of the larger and 

 more conspicuous Ileterocera, a tabulated Index would have shown 

 more nearly the true limitation of range in the different species ; for 

 these have been carefully collected and studied, and individual species 

 are far less likely to have been overlooked than those of obscure and 

 much neglected groups such as the Tortricidce, Tineidce, and Ptero- 

 phoridce. With the exception of three more or less cosmopolitan 

 species, one of which. Trichoptilus centetes, Meyrick, seems out of 

 place here (probably only because it has been described under other 

 names from different parts of the world), the whole of the known 

 West-Indian forms are decidedly American, ranging northward to 

 the Southern and Western portions of the United States, and south- 

 ward as far at least as Brazil ; the majority, however, certainly 

 belong to the truly Central-American fauna. I must acknowledge 

 my indebtedness to Dr. Staudinger for allowing me to see several of 



