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Show 2 DR. W. J. HOLLAND ON THE AFRICAN [Jan. 14, The following papers were read:- 1. A Preliminary Revision and Synonymic Catalogue of the Hesperiida of Africa and the adjacent Islands, with Descriptions of some apparently n e w Species. B y W . J. H O L L A N D , Ph.D., F.Z.S., F.E.S., & c , Chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania. [Eeceived November 6, 1895.] (Plates l.-V.) Having been for a number of years past engaged in the diligent study of the Lepidoptera of Tropical "Western Africa, and having been compelled in the prosecution of these studies to acquaint myself with the entire literature of the subject, it has occurred to me that it might facilitate the labours of others, w h o may be tempted to embark upon the same line of investigation, or who may already be involved in the tangled mazes of the subject, if I should at least attempt to bring together into one paper the scattered references to the various species. I have therefore begun a synonymic catalogue of the Diurnal Lepidoptera of the African Continent and the adjacent Islands, but a m led by the advice of trusted friends to anticipate the publication of the more extended catalogue by the following paper, in which is contained a list of a very difficult group of Butterflies included in the fauna. I a m led the more readily to take this step in view of the results of the recent labours of Lieut. E. Y. Watson, who, in a paper recently published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society upon the Classification of the Hesperiidce (P. Z. S. 1893, p. 3), has laid solid foundations for the prosecution of systematic researches in the future. I have in the main followed the classification which he has suggested in his valuable paper, which, while confessedly incomplete, and leaving some things to be desired, is, nevertheless, one of the most notable contributions to the literature of the subject which has recently appeared. Based, as it is, upon an accurate and painstaking examination of the anatomical details and structural peculiarities of the various species represented in the collections of the British Museum and the magnificent collection of Messrs. Godman and Salvin, it may in the main be accepted n,s free from the blemishes which characterize much of the work done in this group by authors, who have relied almost wholly upon superficial resemblances. In the few cases in which I have departed from the classification of Lieut. Watson, it has been because I have been able to make more careful anatomical investigations than it was possible for him to do with the material at his command. A private collector may do as he will with his own and may bleach and dissect specimens, when it would be little less than a crime for the authorities of a Museum like that at South Kensington to allow such treatment to be bestowed upon the |
