1895.] L. de Niceville & Dr. L. Martin— ’Butterflies of Sumatra. 357 
A list of the Butterflies of Sumatra with especial reference to the Species 
occurring in the north-east of the Island.—By Lionel de Nice'ville, 
F.E.S., C.M.Z.S., &c., and Hofrath Dr. L. Martin. 
[Received 1st; Read 7th August, 1895.] 
Tlie island of Sumatra, with Java, Borneo and Celebes, forms one of 
the Great Sunda group of islands. Rather more than half as large as 
Borneo and more than twice as large as Java, it is nearly as large as 
France. Some 1,070 miles in-length, with an average breadth of over 
120 miles, it has a total area of about 128,000 square miles, or 8,000 
more square miles than are contained in the United Kingdom. Oblong 
in shape, with its longer diameter running north-west to south-east, 
the island lies between 95° and 106° Long. E., and is almost exactly 
bisected by the equator, six degrees north and south of which it extends. 
On the west it is washed by the great Indian Ocean with no adjacent 
land except a parallel chain of small islands of which Nias is the largest; 
to the east is the shallow Strait of Malacca, with the Malay Peninsula 
and the large island of Banka and a few other smaller ones at no great dis¬ 
tance. To the south lies the large island of Java, separated only by the 
narrow Sunda Strait; to the north the Nicobar and Andaman chain of 
islands seem to form a natural continuation of the enormous volcanic rang-e 
of mountains that beginning in the Banda Sea, extends through the 
islands of Wetter, Flores, Sumbawa, Lombok, Bali, Java and Sumatra, 
and ends in the Andaman Sea. Throughout the whole length of Sumatra 
extends a mountain-system of several parallel ranges, with large central 
plateaus or highlands. In this system, called “ The Barisans,” the 
highest mountains are mostly volcanoes, which reach an altitude of 
about 15,000 feet in Mount Kassoumba. Other lofty peaks are Indra- 
pura, 12,255 ; Lusi, 11,000 ; Dempo, 10,562 ; Abong-Abong, 10,000 ; 
Ophir, 9,940; Merapi, 9,640; Talang, 8,470; and Salamanga, 6,825 
feet. Two of these volcanic cones, Merapi and Talang, are said to be 
still active. On the west coast the mountains rise abruptly from the 
Indian Ocean, and in consequence there is no alluvial soil on that side of 
the island ; whilst on the east coast there are large alluvial plains, abound¬ 
ing in water, and intersected by large rivers. This plain is increasing 
every year, being gradually built up by a broad belt of mangrove- 
swamp. In the northern half of Sumatra in the above-mentioned 
alluvial belt, between 3°-4° N. Lat. and 98°-100° E. Lon., are 
situated the three small Malayan sultanates of Langkat, Deli, and 
Serdang (with the butterfly fauna of which this paper deals), that 
are world-renowned for the splendid tobacco grown there, which is 
almost entirely used for making the outer covers of cigars. The southern 
