president’s address. 
153 
I 
very local. One very characteristic Palgearctic genus is 
Parnassius, to which the Apollo Butterfly of the Alps belongs. 
They are found on all the high mountains of Europe and 
Asia, and two species have made their way across Behring’s 
Straits to the Rocky Mountains in the Nearctic region. 
The Oriental region, which includes Indo-China and the 
Malay Islands, is characterised by many gorgeous Butterflies. 
Amongst the Papilios are one group of the great 
Ornithoptera or bird-winged Butterflies. The Euplaeinae are 
confined to this and the Australian region, and there are 
numerous peculiar genera of the other divisions of the 
Rhopalocera. 
The Australian Region, which includes Australia, New 
Zealand, New Guinea, and the Papuan Islands, has, as might 
be expected, many peculiar forms ; but a great part of this 
region is very poor in Butterflies. South Australia has not 
much more than half the number of Butterflies that are 
found in England ; and New Zealand, considering its size 
and climate, is the poorest country in Butterflies in the world, 
having only eleven species, three or four which are evidently 
comparatively recent immigrants from neighbouring lands. 
North Australia, on the other hand, has some of the Butterflies 
belonging to New Guinea or Papuan region, which has some 
magnificent and peculiar species. 
The African or Ethiopian region includes Africa south 
of the Sahara and the large island of Madagascar, and 
some of the interesting problems in the distribution of 
animals are illustrated by the Lepidoptera of this division. 
There is a group of brilliant coloured day-flying Moths, 
the Uranias, the distribution of which is peculiar. One 
of the finest is found in Madagascar and five others in 
Central America and the West Indies, and this is not the 
only connection between these countries. There is a genus 
of small mammals confined to Madagascar and the West 
Indies, and likewise some Beetles. These facts would seem 
