As might be expected in the case of animals endowed with considerable power of flight, certain kinds of diurnal lepidoptera have a much more extensive range than most other insects--than the coleoptera for example. It is now ascertained that _Cynthia cardui_, a species well known throughout Europe, (without confounding it, as may sometimes have been done, with the kindred species _C. Hunteri_), occurs in Senegal, Egypt, Barbary, Cape of Good Hope, in the islands of Bourbon and Madagascar, in Bengal, China, Java, New Holland, Brazil, and North America; so that it may be called a complete cosmopolite. Of the four quarters of the globe, Europe is poorest in these insects; and next to it is Africa. Asia, including the great islands of the Indian Archipelago and America, are both exceedingly rich. Of the former, the islands seem to be much more prolific than the continent; they are the exclusive haunts of the gigantic _Ornithoptera_, several of the largest and most richly coloured of the _Pierides_, as well as several of the most remarkable species of the genus _Morpho_. South America produces a greater number than any other country; and Brazil, always preeminent for its exuberance both in animal and vegetable life, may be said to be the richest portion of the new continent. It has been estimated by an individual who has enjoyed the advantage of personally examining the country, that Brazil alone affords between 600 and 700 species of diurnal lepidoptera, a calculation which seems in no degree overcharged. Among these are many genera peculiar to America, such as _Heliconia_, _Castnia_, _Erycina_, &c. In almost every one of its physical properties, Africa affords a complete contrast to the country just named; and however favourable its arid soil, and far-extending deserts of parched and drifting sand, may be to the existence of certain peculiar races of coleoptera, it is by no means generally adapted to the support of creatures which derive their entire sustenance from vegetable juices. The sea-coast, and umbrageous banks of the larger rivers, however, are pretty abundantly supplied, and afford many species peculiar to the country. This is the metropolitan station of the genus _Acrea_, and it is likewise inhabited by several peculiar groups of the genera _Papilio_, _Pieris_, &c. The neighbouring island of Madagascar is much richer than the continent, and exemplifies what has been observed in relation to many other islands, that their zoological productions by no means correspond to those of the nearest portion of the main land. Little relation exists between the diurnal lepidoptera of Madagascar and the Cape of Good Hope, but a very close one can be traced between the former and those inhabiting distant parts of the continent, such as Senegal and Sierra Leone. Mauritius and Bourbon likewise differ considerably in their lepidopterous productions from Madagascar. In the latter, magnificent _Papilios_,