COLLECTINGf LEPIDOPTERA IX TRINIDAD. 59 



many speeies of this and the preceding genus were frequently to be 

 seen together, a few paces through the long grass sometimes causing a 

 wliole cloud of them to rise from the grass blades on which they 

 settle. 



Of the Xijrnpltalinae, to which belong some of the most striking 

 combinations of colour among the South American forms, there were 

 many interesting species. Colamis jiilia and C. pluwrum, curiously 

 shaped species, Avith very elongated foreAvings, AA'ere seen ahvays much 

 attached to flowers, being particularly fond of a bright scarlet floAver; 

 Dione vanillae, common amongst Guinea grass, on Avhich the lar\-a now 

 feeds. As the grass is, as its name might imply, an importation, it Avould 

 be interesting to know what else the larva feeds on or fed on previous to 

 the introduction. Anartia amalthea, nearly ahvays to be found in 

 very damp places, irrespective of the dry and Avet season, while A. 

 jatmphae has just the rcA'erse taste, loving the dry, dusty roadsides. 

 The genera CaUimre and ('ataijramma have very feAV species recorded 

 as yet, but their inaccessibility perhaps accounts for their not having 

 been more noticed. They fly exceedingly high, nearly ahvays round 

 the tops of the trees (frequently cocoa), no matter Iioav high, except 

 Avben they descend to a pool of Avater, evidently to drink. On the last 

 day of my stay in the island, I noticed a pair of Cataiiranuna jn'tlnas 

 (hitherto unrecorded from Trinidad), flying at a great height round a 

 tree top. The Catagrammas are laiOAvn to the nigger as the " date 

 butterflies," because they suppose that the curious 88 or 89 looking mark- 

 ings, on the underside, change with the year. Being the year '98 it 

 was useless, in my case, to argue the point. There is a saying that 

 the unexpected ahvays happens, and certainly both this and the con- 

 verse happened to me. I had fancied that the primeval forest Avas the 

 place of places for collecting. 15ut I took little or nothing in such 

 places. It is true that one or tAVO of the insects so taken Avere ncAV. But 

 as a general rule (in the West Indies) the ancient forest is not Avorth 

 Avorking in the day-time. By the kindness of Mr. Urich I Avas a1)lc to 

 work the high Avood pretty systematically, as he Avas stationed at a 

 place called Tabaquite, Avhich is at present just a clearing in the 

 forest, but Avhich is to bo the terminus of a neAV raihvay extension. 

 At night, good collecting is to be done Avith a lamp in the verandah, or, 

 as it is knoAvn out there, the gallery. The deafening noise of the tree 

 frogs, cicadas, etc., at sundoAvn, is something very novel to listen to 

 for the first time. And then, if it is to be a good night for collecting, 

 the tire-flics {Klatcridac) Avill be Avell in evidence, making the scene much 

 more fairylike than the very best transformation scene at Drury Lane. 

 Representatives of almost every group of moths came to light, includmg 

 what are supposed to be day-flyers. Such Avere one or tAvo Sjinbi- 

 midcw, tAA^o or three Llwacodidav, the representatives of Avhich Ave in 

 England ahvays take in the day time, as Avell as some Sphlwiidar. 

 The number of micros Avith small flies, ants, and others, is somethmg 

 enormous on a good night — and a good night, let me remark, is jusc 

 as necessary in the tropics as elseAvhere. A bright moon, and other 

 well-knoAvn ominous signs to collecting in this country are just as 

 fatal with the thermometer 20=^ higher in a tropical country. 



