2 IJU. W. J. HOLLAND ON THE AFRICAN [Jan. 14, 



The following papers were read : — 



1. A Preliminary Revision and Synonymic Catalogue of 

 the Hesperiidce of Africa and the adjacent Islands^ with 

 Descriptions of some apparently new Species. By W. 

 J. Holland, Ph.D., P.Z.S., F.E.S., &e.. Chancellor of 

 the Western University of Pennsylvania. 

 [Received November 6, 1895.] 

 (Plates l.-V.) 



Having been for a nninber of years past engaged in the diligent 

 study of the Lepidojjtera of Tropical Western Africa, and having 

 been compelled in tlie prosecution of these studies to acquaint 

 myself with the entire literature of the subject, it has occurred to 

 mo 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 in\olved in the tangled mazes of the subject, if 

 I should at least attempt to bring together into one ])aper 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 iu the 

 fauna. I am led the more readily to take this step in view of the 

 results of the recent labours of Lieut. E. Y. Watson, who, in a paper 

 recently published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society upou 

 the Classification of the Hespa-iiihe (P. Z. S. 1893, p. 3), has laid 

 solid foundations for the prosecution of systematic researches in 

 the future. I have in the main followed the clasaiflcation which 

 he has suggested in his valuable paper, which, while confessedly 

 incomplete, and leaving some tilings 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 iu 

 the collections of the British Jluseum and the magnificent collec- 

 tion of Messrs. Q odman and Salvin, it may in the main be accepted 

 n.s 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 



