Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 179 



mingled with the spinous Brometia pinguin and the equally for- 

 midable Guilandina bonduc, present a tangled and almost impe- 

 netrable maze. In this very limited space, not exceeding the 

 length of about a hundred yards along the road, this new species 

 of Melitaa is plentiful from the end of March, onward through 

 the summer. Yet I have scarcely found it elsewhere. It flits in 

 and out among the bushes, dancing over them, and alighting 

 every moment ; yet manifests no perceptible preference for blos- 

 soms. From its indifference to the presence of man and its local 

 attachment, it is netted with the greatest ease. 



26. Melitaa Pelops. Not less local than the preceding, this 

 pretty, pigmy butterfly haunts a very different scene, where how- 

 ever it is found in the most profuse abundance. At the spot 

 where the Short Cut through the Paradise morass crosses the 

 Sweet Iliver by a ford available only in the dry season, a few 

 square yards of the western bank have escaped from the domi- 

 nion of the spreading bushes of black withe and cockspur, and 

 are covered with a soft, dense, and deep carpet of what, from its 

 aspect and perfume, I suppose to be a species of thyme, out of 

 which spring scattered shrubs of the pretty Cleome pentaphylla. 

 Hundreds of these diminutive Melitcea, the most minute but- 

 terfly with which I am acquainted, throng this secluded spot*, 

 hovering about the fragrant herbage a few inches above the 

 ground, or resting on the slender stems ; many fly to and fro, 

 united in sexual copula. Not one is to be seen on the opposite 

 bank of the narrow stream, half-a-dozen yards distant, nor does 

 the species extend its haunt beyond the space named, on its own 

 side : its limits are commensurate with those of the thyme. I 

 have found it equally abundant whenever I have visited the place, 

 but as this is not accessible in the rainy seasons, I can speak only 

 of the winter and spring months. Nowhere else, however, have 

 I at any time seen a single specimen. 



There is little except difference in dimensions and peculiarity 

 in local habitat to distinguish this species from the preceding ; 

 yet I feel satisfied that they are distinct. 



27. Melitcea (sp. nov. ? near Tharos). Less common than its 

 congeners, this species yet occurred in some numbers in the 

 summer months in the same locality as M. Proclea, and thence 

 onward to the Creek. Its habits differ little from those of that 

 species. 



28. Anartia Jatrophce. Throughout the year this delicately 

 tinted butterfly is the constant companion of Heliconia Chart- 

 tonia, with which species it might dispute the palm of abundance. 



* In my note of Galeruca Domingensis (v. ante, p. 110) the allusion to 

 Melittva Proclea is an error of nomenclature ; Pelops is the species intended 

 there. 



