INTRODUCTION. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
7 
To give further particulars about the enormous number of genera and species of the Indo- 
Australian Region is beyond the scope of this introduction. But even of the special part which follows, 
we must say that it is only a trifling fragment; only a preliminary study, serviceable for pointing out the 
place where the crowds of annually discovered species are to he arranged. The very districts of our region 
most rich in species — North-East India and the interior of the Malayan lands — have scarcely yet been 
geographically explored; and if in the beginning of this chapter we warned against the idea that every 
imaginable district of East India offers a quarry for daily new discoveries in the lepidopterological sphere, 
yet there are still enough islands and mountain regions which in this respect surpass the most daring 
hopes. The extreme south of China, the numerous tracts of mountains into which the eastern Himalayas 
are broken up, the interior of the lai’ger, as yet little cultivated islands, such as Ceram, Borneo and New 
Guinea, must still offer much which awaits discovery; the most gorgeous giant butterflies of this region, 
among them the enormous Ornithoptera Papilio alexandrite, were not made known until quite recently. 
