( 383 ) 

 34. Charaxes smaragdalis. 



Cluirii.rrs smiiriigfhlis Butler, Prur. Zoal. .S'oo. Luml. p. 630. d. 32 t. 36. f. 5. ^ (18G5) (.Congo) ; 

 id., Lq,. Exot. p. 5. t. 2. f. 1. ? (18G9) (Congo). 



Differs from (7;. citliaeron constantly in the following characters : — 



(?. Wings above : large blue jiatches of forewiug from M' (or M') to internal 

 margin a little more distal : Lund of hiudwing pale blue, whitish only proximally at 

 abdominal fold, broader, especially in the middle, than in cithaeron, hence black 



enter area more reduced ; admarginal spots blue, nearly white at veins. 



Underside : bars mnch heavier than in cithaeron, especially on forewing, ground 

 colour darker, more olive, hence the pale yellowish spots more prominent; postdiscal 

 patches of forewing distally bordered by pale bluish half-rings. 



?. Wings above: band of forewing more blue behind, less curved; band of 



hindwing blue, admarginal spots blue, almost white at veins. Underside : darker, 



bars of forewing a very little thicker, postdiscal patches of forewing as in i. 



To these distinguishing characters we must add the greater size of the blue 

 patches on the forewing between M^ and internal margin and on the hindwing 

 between C and R', but these characters vary so much in either species that they 

 cannot serve to distinguish all specimens of the one from all individuals of the 

 other. 



A i from Ran, Nandi country, British East Africa, and another from 

 Landana, Congo Free State, have patch M- — SM- of the forewiug not broader 

 than certain examjiles of Ch. cithaeron from Natal and N3'assaland. 



Penis and penis-funnel as in Ch. cithaeron. 



Ilab. West Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola, and as far east as the Nandi 

 country in the Uganda Protectorate. 



Ch. cithaeron and the two local forms of Ch. smaragdulis are geographical 

 representatives. The characters of the individual from British East Africa men- 

 tioned before (unfortunately in a very bad state of preservation) make it probable 

 that a longer series from the interior of British East Africa will show all the 

 connecting links between smaragdulis and cithaeron, which are as yet wanting, 



Charaxes smaragdulis has, like most of the Churuxes with a wide range, 

 developed into a north-western race extending from Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast 

 and an equatorial race found from the Niger Coast to the Congo basin and the 

 Uganda Protectorate. 



Dr. Butler described Ch. smaragdulis from the Congo in ISG.i ; the name of 

 smaragdulis must, therefore, be applied to the eipiatorial race (and to the entire 

 species). In lS9(i Dr. Butler described again as Ch. princeps specimens from the 

 Cameroons which he thought to be specifically distinct from Ch. smaragdulis on 

 account of the reduction of the blue patch M^ — SM* on the forewing and the greater 

 extent of blue in the marginal region of the hiudwing. These and some other points 

 mentioned by Dr. Butler, indeed, hold good, on the whole, if one compares Cameroons 

 examples with individuals from Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, but not if 

 ^^ princeps" is compared with (!ongo specimens. Onr scries of specimens from the 

 Congo basin shows clearly that princeps is nothing else but smarugdulis. The main 

 character by which all the examples from the ( 'anierooiis and ( 'ongo can be clistin- 

 guished from tlie specimens from the more northeni jiarts of the AVest Coast, namely 

 the greater size of the discal series of sjiots on the u|ipersicle of the forewing as 



