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Show 1894.] MANIC A, SOUTH-EAST AFRICA. 17 between the Lusika River and Chimoia's the weather was dull and rainy and unfavourable for collecting. Had it been fine I might have seen and caught a few more specimens. " P.S.-The Pungwe Valley, in which I caught a few Butterflies last September and October, is covered with forest and intersected by numerous streams. The altitude is here, however, below 1000 feet. Below Sarmento, and from there to the coast, there is a great deal of open country covered for the most part with excessively long grass." The tract so well described by Mr. Selous is a belt of not more than about ten miles in width, running east and west between S. lat. 18° 50' and 19°, and E. long. 32° 32' and 33° 20'. Prom Chimoia's to Sarmento and the Pungwe Biver is a narrower continuation of the same belt to the eastward for another sixty miles, at first a little north but afterwards slightly south of the 19 th parallel. Prom the existing maps the entire tract seems to be less than 200 miles south of the nearest reach of the Zambesi. Including two forms of Mycalesis which I have not been able to determine with certainty, and two of Terias which I cannot satisfactorily place, M r. Selous's collection contains representatives of 166 species, represented by over 1100 examples. This is a very good result of three months' collecting, but it must not by any means be regarded as completely representing the Butterfly fauna of the district, as there can be no doubt that many forms known to range both north and south of Mauica, although not represented in Mr. Selous's collection, must occur in the intermediate tract. Pifteen such species, for instance, are recorded from the Zambesi Valley and from extra-tropical South Africa-ten of them ranging widely also in other parts of the continent-and these can hardly be absent from Manica. Moreover, a certain proportion of species are sure to be peculiar to the dry-season months, during which Mr. Selous had not the opportunity of collecting. Of the 165 species in the collection 44 are of general distribution south of the Sahara; and of the remainder, 26 (of which 9 appear to be undescribed) seem peculiar to the South-Tropical area. As many as 51 inhabit both the South-Tropical and the South Extra-tropical areas, and 13 others are also found in both these areas, but hitherto, as regards the former area, have been recorded from Manica only. Twelve are dispersed through both these areas as well as in part of the West North-Tropical area, and eight through the two former and also the East North-Tropical area; while seven others inhabit both Tropical areas, but are unknown in the South Extra-tropical area. Three (Deudorix ccerulea, Durbania hilde-gardi, and Pterygospidea gcdenus) seem elsewhere to be recorded from the West of both Tropical areas, and one (Lyccena antinorii) from Abyssinia only. The collection is disappointing in one respect, viz., its deficiency in mimicking species. There is no example of any form of Euralia or Pseudacrcea, and the only imitative Butterflies represented are the female Diadema misippus and two forms of the female Papilia P R O C . Z O O L . Soc-1894, N o . II. 2 |
