2 DR. W. J. HOLLAND ON THE AFRICAN [Jan. 14, 
The following papers were read :— 
1. A Preliminary Revision and Synonymic Catalogue of 
the Hesperiide of Africa and the adjacent Islands, with 
Descriptions of some apparently new Species. By W. 
J. Hoxxianp, Ph.D., F.Z.S., F.E.S., &c., Chancellor of 
the Western University of Pennsylvania. 
[Received November 6, 1895.] 
(Plates 1.-V.) 
. Having been for a number of years past engaged in the diligent 
study of the Lepidoptera of Tropical Western Africa, and having 
been compelled in the prosecution of these studies to acquaint 
inyself with the entire literature of the subject, it has occurred to 
me that it might facilitate the labours of others, who may be 
tempted to embark upon the same line of investigation, or who 
may already be involved in the tangled mazes of the subject, if 
I should at least attempt to bring together into one paper the 
scattered references to the various species. I have therefore 
begun a synonymic catalogue of the Diurnal Lepidoptera of the 
African Continent and the adjacent Islands, but am led by the 
advice of trusted friends to anticipate the publication of the more 
extended catalogue by the following paper, in which is contained 
a list of a very difficult group of Butterflies included in the 
fauna. Iam led the more readily to take this step in view of the 
results of the recent labours of Lieut. E. Y. Watson, who, ina paper 
recently published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society upon 
the Classification of the Hesperiide (P. Z. 8.1893, p. 3), bas laid 
solid foundations for the prosecution of systematic researches in 
the future. I have in the main followed the classification which 
he has suggested in his valuable paper, which, while confessedly 
incomplete, and leaving some things to be desired, is, nevertheless, 
one of the most notable contributions to the literature of the 
subject which has recently appeared. Based, as it is, upon an 
accurate and painstaking examination of the anatomical details 
and structural peculiarities of the various species represented in 
the collections of the British Museum and the magnificent collec- 
tion of Messrs. Godman and Salvin, it may in the main be accepted 
as free from the blemishes which characterize much of the work 
done in this group by authors, who have relied almost wholly upon 
superficial resemblances. In the few cases in which I have 
departed from the classification of Lieut. Watson, it has been 
because I have been able to make more careful anatomical investi- 
gations than it was possible for him to do with the material at his 
command. A private collector may do as he will with his own, 
and may bleach and dissect specimens, when it would be little less 
than a crime for the authorities of a Museum like that at South 
Kensington to allow such treatment to be bestowed upon the 
