Natural-History Collectors. 5013 



five or six pieces, two of which fly so high and rapidly that I cannot 

 get at them; one of them is either Adonis orCytheris, the other I do 

 not know. In Coleoptera and Hemiptera I have got a fair amount of 

 new species, but still this is nothing compared to what I ought to be 

 doing higher up. I send a box of my private collection of those 

 families which I cannot keep any longer, on account of mould : the 

 Staphylinidae have all been twice cleaned with spirit, and T am afraid 

 they will become spoilt if I keep them any longer. I must explain 

 a little the remarks made on butterflies to Mr. Hewitson ; the sexes 

 figured as different species are Limnas Vitula and L. Thyatira; 

 I think I ticketed them male and female, but if not, of course Mr. 

 Hewitson, and no one else, could divine that these were the same spe- 

 cies of insect; besides this, I rather think the female of Catagramma 

 Peristera, is not the true one, — " species placed in wrong genera." I 

 made this remark because I thought strongly there was much incon- 

 gruity in his plate of Lemonias. Lemonias is identical in neuration, 

 palpi, legs, &c. with Nymphidium ; but it is a good genus, and offers 

 a distinct character in its habits from Nymphidium, the species 

 reposing always with the wings closed, whilst all the Nymphidiums 

 repose with wings open ; I sent in December last the females of two 

 species of Lemonias, which are very different from the males, whilst in 

 Nymphidium the females are similar to the males. Now, Mr. Hewit- 

 son's Lemonias Senta and L.Rhodope have none of these characters of 

 the Lemonias ; I think they are Nymphidiums, and their introduction 

 into Lemonias destroys the harmony of both the genera. 



" The Mundurucus, and, I think, the Manhes also, in their natural 

 state, shave the head, except the front, where they leave a fringe of 

 long hair : when they leave their villages to come with the traders to 

 the civilized places, they let it grow in the usual way. Now, if the 

 hair is wanted to glue to a model, it ought to be in the style 

 of the savages ; if only for physiological examination, the hair of any 

 Indian born in the villages will do.* The tribe Paux6s are long ago 

 extinct: the Purvis (called Purupurus at Ega) inhabit away up the 

 river Purus; the Mundurucus inhabit the right bank of the river 

 Tapajos ; the Manhes the left bank of the same, as well as the rivers 

 behind Villa Nova; the domesticated Indians in Villa Nova are 

 nearly all Manhes, Mundurucus or Muras. I made a short (very short) 

 vocabulary of Manhes and Mundurucus on Rio Tapajos; I could not 

 find a single word the same in the two languages. 



* This is in reference to a request to procure the hair of the native Indians for 

 Dr. Latham. 



