NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXIH. 1918. 287 



SOME NOTES OE A EAUNAL AND OTHER NATURE ON 

 THE LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED BY HERR GEYR VON 

 SCHWEPPENBURG IN THE HOGGAR MOUNTAINS. 



By LORD ROTHSCHILD, F.R.S., Ph.D. 



THE full list of this collection, with descriptions of new species, was given by 

 me in the October and November numbers of the Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History of 1915. I unfortunately stated there that Herr Geyr von 

 Schweppenburg went " on behalf of Professor Koenig of Bonn," but it seems that 

 Herr Geyr, who accompanied Herr Paul Spatz, was quite independent both as 

 regards his work and its results. 



The collection is of great interest, as it proves that in the West at least the 

 Hoggar Mountains are the utmost southern boundary of the Palaearctic Region. 

 We already find a number of tropical forms intruding, as in the East they do in 

 Cashmere, Central China, and South Japan. The most disturbing problem, how- 

 ever, are the true desert species, for while many of them penetrate far north 

 into the heart of the Palaearctic Region, we find these same species spread over 

 many tropical desert areas such as Rajputana, Arabia, and Socotra. Going more 

 into detail, — of the 9 species of Rhopalocera collected by Herr Geyr, 3 are purely 

 tropical, viz., Teracolus kelvolus, Spindasis acamas divisa and Virockala lima, ; 

 2 are purely palaearctic, namely Pieris ropae ? leucotera and Colias electa croceus 

 (C. e. croceus is confined to the Western Palaeactic Region, while in tropical 

 Africa from Lado to the Cape it is replaced by G. electo electo) ; 3 are desert forms 

 straggling into the regions of the Hauts Plateaux (Steppes), Eicchloe fallout 

 obsolescens, Zizera hjsimon, and Tarucus theopkrastus, while Pyrameis cardui cardui 

 is of almost world-wide distribution from the Arctic Regions to the Cape and from 

 Spain to Australia. 



Of the 94 species of Heterocera Celerio lineata livomica is found over most 

 of the Eastern hemisphere except Australia, where a distinct subspecies occurs ; 

 Casama uniformis is a pure desert form, as are the 2 species of Chilena (the genus 

 is composed of desert forms) ; among the Jfoctuidae the 5 species of Agrotinae are 

 purely palaearctic and Hauts Plateaux forms, which appear in many places to 

 penetrate into the desert regions ; of the Cucullianae, Cucullia santolinae is 

 palaearctic while the other 4 are desert forms ; of the Acronyctinae, Lapkigma 

 exigua junceti is a palaearctic and desert form (Laphigma exigua in 3 or 4 hardly 

 separable subspecies occurs from Scandinavia to the Cape of Good Hope, and from 

 Spain to Australia and many Pacific islands) ; Azenia sabulosa is purely a desert 

 species, while the 2 Athetis are Hauts Plateaux forms spreading into the desert 

 and Southern Palaearctic Regions as stragglers ; all the 6 species of the subfamily 

 Erastrianae are pure desert forms, as are also the 12 Catocalinae, though 

 Leucanitis kabylaria straggles a considerable distance northwards ; of the 2 

 Phytometras P. gamma is almost world-wide, and ni deserticola is a Hauts 

 Plateaux form penetrating far into the desert; of the 11 species of Noctuinae the 

 first 8 are pure desert forms while the last 3 are Hauts Plateaux forms. All the 



