INTRODUCTION. 
70 
gascar, in Bengal, China, Java, New Holland, Bra- 
zil, and North America ; so that it may be called a 
complete cosmopolite. Of the four quarters of the 
globe, Europe is poorest in these insects ; and nest 
to it is Africa. Asia, including the great islands of 
the Indian Archipelago and America, are both ex- 
ceedingly rich. Of the former, the islands seem to 
be much more prolific than the continent ; they are 
the exclusive haunts of the gigantic Omithqptera, 
several of the largest and most richly coloured of 
the Plenties, as well as several of the most remark- 
able species of the genus Morpho. South America 
produces a greater number than any other country ; 
and Brazil, always preeminent for its exuberance 
both in animal and vegetable life, may be said to be 
the richest portion of the new continent. It has 
been estimated by an individual who has enjoyed 
the advantage of personally examining the country, 
that Brazil alone affords between b'OO and 700 spe- 
cies of diurnal lepidoptera, a calculation which seems 
in no degree overcharged. Among these are many 
genera peculiar to America, such as Heliconia, Cast- 
nia, Erycina, &c. In almost every one of its phy- 
sical properties, Africa affords a complete contrast 
to the country just named ; and however favourable 
its arid soil, and far-extending desarts of parched 
and drifting sand, may be to the existence of certain 
peculiar races of coleoptera, it is by no means gene- 
rally adapted to the support of creatures which de- 
rive their entire sustenance from vegetable juices. 
The sea-coast, and umbrageous banks of the larger 
