chap. vm. J THE INTERIOR. 199 



no rock, the soil being generally a red friable clay. 

 Numbers of small streams and rivers intersect the country, 

 and it is pretty equally divided between open clearings 

 and patches of forest, both virgin and second growth, with 

 abundance of fruit trees ; and there is no lack of paths to 

 get about in any direction. Altogether it is the very 

 country that would promise most for a naturalist, and 

 I feel sure that at a more favourable time of year it would 

 prove exceedingly rich ; but it was now the rainy season, 

 when, in the very best of localities, insects are always 

 scarce, and there being no fruit on the trees there was 

 also a scarcity of birds. During a month's collecting, I 

 added only three or four new species to my list of birds, 

 although I obtained very fine specimens of many which 

 were rare and interesting. In butterflies I was rather 

 more successful, obtaining several fine species quite new to 

 me, and a considerable number of very rare and beautiful 

 insects. I will give here some account of two species of 

 butterflies, which, though very common in collections, pre- 

 sent us with peculiarities of the highest interest. 



The first is the handsome Papilio memnon, a splendid 

 butterfly of a deep black colour, dotted over with lines and 

 groups of scales of a clear ashy blue. Its wings are five 

 inches in expanse, and the hind wings are rounded, with 

 scalloped edges. This applies to the males ; but the females 

 are very different, and vary so much that they were once 



