38 



It HOP A LOCK R A MA LA 1 . 1 A I . 



As regards the distribution of the Satyr inn; Prof, Weatwood has calculated that tlie number 

 of the European species is considerably greater than one- third of the whole number of European 

 L'hopahcera,* whilst Mr. Kirby estimates them as nearly a third- f It is in this region that the 

 lower forms of grasses are very abundant, for, as Heyen has pointed out, these (the grasses which 

 form meadows and pastures) are peculiar to the colder regions and to the colder half of the tem- 

 perate regions ; they are replaced by larger arborescent forms in the subtropical zone and within 

 the tropics.* This large percentage of Sattjrhuv. to the whole Rhopaloeerous fauna probably 

 extends throughout the Palearetic region, § but of the butterflies of Northern and Central Asia we 

 still know very little. Even in China, Mr. Pryer, giving the results of a short entomological 

 excursion, says, fi The commonest butterfly was one of the Sattfridn', which subsequently turned 

 out to be not only a new species, but a new genus/' || It cannot, however, be postulated that the 

 average numerical distribution of the grasses is in proportion to the average numerical distribution 

 of the Saturimt-, for whereas, according to Pe Candolle's statistical review, the Old World and Asia 

 especially is richer in grasses than the New, for though iu the latter the grasses rarely amount to 

 as much as ten per cent, of all the flowering plants in the various districts, usually only nine, 

 occasionally only seven per cent., they generally amount to ten and often to twelve per cent, in the 

 Eastern Continents. II I found from an estimate made from Mr. Kirby'a Catalogue (1871) that 

 the approximate equivalence in the number of genera and species as found in the Old and New 

 Worlds** was exceedingly close and quite surprising in that respect* However, the number of 

 genera peculiar to Tropical America are greater than those which are peculiar to any other region, 

 the Oriental Region being next in that respect, but only to less than half the extent, ft 



According to Dr. Thwaites, J J the Ceylonese specimens of Satifrin® are inactive and fly 

 near the ground, amongst grass and close to the margins of woods, Their movements, 

 however, are more lively in the early morning and evening during their amatory gambols. §§ 

 They have also been observed on the Amazons by Mr, Wallace, |||| and in South Africa by 

 Mr. TrimenjIIlI whose record of their flight is similar to that of Dr, Thwaites, and agrees with 

 my own observations in Province Weilesiey. Mr. Wallace adds to his Amazonian account that 

 he did not remember to have ever seen any species rise four feet from the earth, whilst the 

 greater number of them did not exceed as many inches ; and Mr. Trim en noticed that those 

 species which did not possess the basal inflation of the nervures of the anterior wings possessed 

 greater powers of flight and a more robust structure generally* 



The colour of these butterflies is generally of a sombre hue* dull brown being the usual tint of 

 the upper surface, though exceptions to this rule, as might be expected, are not infrequent. There 

 often appears to be some correlation between obscure colours above and ocellatrd spots beneath. 



* iHmbl. & Westw.p Gen, Diurn. Lep. vol. ii. p. 332. | 4 European Butterflies," p. 45. 



] ' Botanical Geography" (Kay Soc.), p. 107, 



g These statistics do not upply to the Neurotic liogiou, for Mr* Scudder, iu discussing the disparity iu numbers of the 

 Nyinphalida of Europe and N. America, remarks Unit such " its almost wholly dm- to the vast number of Satyrs, or Meadow 

 Browns in Europe — it bus seventy- seven species — while we have but nineteen,' — * Butterflies, 1 p. 264. 



|| Ent, Mo, Mag, xiv. p. 54, * (Juoted by Peechel, 'The Paces of Mau/ p. 412* 



The Satyrid faunas of the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions were compared with those of the Paleurctic, Ethiopian, 

 and Oriental Regions. 



ff Wallace, Geogr. Distrib. An, vol, ii. p. 471, ] | Kep. Ceylon, i. p. 18. 



jij Mr. Swinton, who has paid much attention to this branch of Entomology, states that lumiy butterflies pair [it 

 noontide when the sky in overcast (' Inseet Variety," p. 921. 



Illl Trtine. Ent Soc, 1867, p, 201, r D Hbop. Air. Auetr. p, 18.1, 



