INTRODUCTORY


 THE collecting of butterflies in the tropics-I am
referring now especially to British Honduras-is
very different to collecting in temperate climates.
Many factors contribute in making it so.
 Before I turned my attention to the butterflies
of British Honduras all my experience in Ento-
mology was gained in England, and I had no
knowledge of the conditions which prevail in other
countries, and which, had I not been ignorant of
them, would certainly have tended to modify and
at the same time widen and enlarge my views.
Thus at the start I was, to a certain extent,
handicapped.
 I came out to British Honduras and found my-
self in another world, a world of wonders and
delights, an altogether charming world. Every-
thing was different, new, wonderful-the birds,
the plants and flowers, and even the grass-all
were different.
 The natives of the country speaking a language
strange to me, and the glorious sun over it all.
Everything appealed to me. I gazed in wonder
at the coco-nut trees laden with their nuts swaying