When the author left England, in the autumn of 1892, for a winter’s
sunshine in Teneriffe, it was by no means her intention to write on
the Lepidoptera of that Island. Soon after her arrival, however,
she was struck by two things; the want of any sort of interesting
out-door occupation (other than somewhat desultory riding expeditions)
experienced by her companions in exile, and the absence of any account
of the Lepidoptera of the Canary Islands, which would enable collectors
to name their specimens. It is her hope that the present publication
may be, at least to some extent, the means of remedying these
deficiences.
To a detailed description of the Lepidoptera of Teneriffe, so far as
they are at present known, an introductory chapter has been added, for
the benefit of novices in the study and collection of butterflies and
moths.
Those, for whom fresh air and a certain amount of exercise are
essential, can hardly find any more health-giving or light interesting
occupation than the practical study of Entomology.
This study lends an interest to excursions which might otherwise be
tedious, and leads the collector into all sorts of beautiful and
picturesque unexplored nooks and corners of the Island, which to the
ordinary traveller are quite unknown. Many visitors hardly ever extend
their wanderings farther than the Carretera (the one high road in
Teneriffe), and have no idea of the many beauties to be seen, or of
the interest that may be found in studying the Botany, as well as the
Entomology, of this most charming of the “Summer isles of Eden lying in
dark-purple spheres of sea.”
All the species and varieties of Teneriffe butterflies, with the
exception perhaps of three, are found between the months of November
and May; so that anyone staying there for the winter and spring months
may procure a tolerably perfect collection; more especially as the
different species found in Teneriffe are but twenty-nine, so far as is
at present known, all of which are now described. The author has been
fortunate enough to add four of these to the number previously known to
exist in the Island.
The most complete collection of moths which came under notice is in
the possession of Dr. Zorolo, of Villa Orotava, and this numbers about
seventy species and varieties. Forty-one moths are described out of
some fifty which were collected and studied by the author; and a list
of twenty-one others, chiefly small and of little interest to the
amateur collector, is appended.
Almost all the facts and particulars relating to the life history
of the Lepidoptera are the result of the personal experience of the
author, who is also responsible for the drawings from which the
illustrations have been reproduced.
It is believed that the Lepidoptera of the other six Islands are
largely similar to those of Teneriffe. (See Appendix A.)
The author desires to offer her best thanks to Señor Don Ramon Gomez,
of Puerto Orotava, for his kindness and courtesy in placing his large
collection of Lepidoptera at her disposal for study and illustration.
The Rev. O. A. Benthall has kindly given information upon specimens
which he has netted and observed; and the author is also indebted to
Dr. Zorolo, of Yilla Orotava, who has lent one or two rare specimens
for illustration. Kind assistance in naming some specimens has been
given by A. G. Butler, Ph.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S., and Mr. W. F. Kirby,
F.L.S., F.E.S., of the British Museum; and Mr. Bethune Baker, F.E.S.,
has been good enough to name some of the smaller moths.