eprinted from “ The Hntomologist 8 Monthly Magazine,” Second Series, Vol. xv.} 
DF apne menangn tte er vrtas ind pont 
1904.) ot 187 
-v* 
“SOME NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF THE “CURTIS” 
af COLLECTION OF BRITISH INSECTS. 
BY JAMES J. WALKER, B.N., F.L,S. 
Ina brief note in this Magazine for March, 1901 (vol. xxxvii, 
p. 76), 1 gave an account of the excellent state of preservation in 
which | found the famous “ Curtis”’ Collection, now for more than 
forty years deposited in the Victorian National Museum at Melbourne, 
At the time of my first visit to that city, the conditions for a 
thorough examination of the Collection were by no means favourable, 
as, with the other insects belonging to the Museum, it was tempo- 
rarily stored in the Exhibition building in the grounds of Melbourne 
University. It could only be then looked at, drawer by drawer, in a 
very narrow space between two piles of cabinets, lighted by a window 
sadly in want of cleaning, and it was not possible to make any but a 
cursory inspection of the insects. 
On my second visit to Melbourne in July, 1903, I found that the 
whole of the Collections had been transferred to the fine Museum 
buildings in Swanston Street, and were arranged in the basement, in 
very dry and commodious quarters, but lighted only by incandescent 
electric light. This, however, { found suflicient to enable me to make a 
close and critical inspection of the entire series of British insects origin- 
ally belonging to John Curtis. 1 must again tender my best thanks to 
Professor W. Baldwin Spencer, F.R.S., the Director, and to Mr. James 
A. Kershaw, F.E.S., the Curator, of the Museum, for their kindness 
in giving me unrestricted access to the Collection, and thus enabling 
me to carry out this examination in a thorough manner. ‘The second 
i inspection fully confirms the opinion formed by me on my first visit, 
as to the excellent condition of the whole Collection. In going over 
the Lepidoptera especially, 1 found so many beautiful and striking 
varieties, as well as so many specimens of historic interest, from their 
association with the most beautifully illustrated work on the Ento- 
mology of our Islands which has ever appeared, that I am tempted 
to give a brief account of some of them. A few extracts from 
Curtis’s MS. register, which accompanied the Collections to Mel- 
bourne, will also, 1 hope, be found interesting, as few, if any, 
Entomologists now living can have had any personal acquaintance 
with John Curtis or his collections. 
Curtis died on the 6th October, 1862, and his Collections were 
probably shipped to Australia not later than the beginning of 1864, 
as the records of the Victorian National Museum show that a sum of 
