PIERIN^. 9 



is usually a little above the extremity of third median nervule, but 

 sometimes below it) ; inner edge of apical border irregularly excavate 

 above and below upper radial nervule ; rarely a minute blackish spot at 

 extremity of second median nervule, and occasionally another on inter- 

 nervular fold below it ; discal spot rather large, sub-reniform, not far 

 from hind-margin, its lower extremity on second median nervule and 

 its upper one rather above third median nervule ; circumference of this 

 spot not sharply defined, but somewhat suffused. Himl-iuing : without 

 marking, except on hind-marginal edge, where there is a series of 

 minute inter-nervular blackish linear marks (sometimes all but imper- 

 ceptible), and occasionally traces of a series of similar minute marks 

 at extremities of nervules. Under side. — Hind-ioing and 7iarroiu 

 costal, apical, and hind-onarginal border of fore-tvinj more or less faintly 

 tinged with straw-yclloic, and sparsely liatched or frccUcd with short, 

 thin, fuscous lineolce. Fore-wing : fuscous lineol^e extend below costal 

 border, more especially near base, where they cover about a third of 

 discoidal cell as far as median nervure ; discal spot somewhat smaller 

 and fainter than on upper side ; along hind-marginal edge a series of 

 minute but very distinct inter-nervular blackish spots, of which between 

 first median nervule and submedian nervure there are two. Hincl- 

 w-ing : lineol^ pretty evenly distributed, but sparse generally beyond 

 middle ; about middle, and about midway between middle and hind- 

 margin, the lineote tend more or less prominently to group themselves 

 into two nearly straight and almost parallel obliquely transverse striaa, of 

 which the outer is much more pronounced ; a series of inter-ner\nilar 

 hind-marginal spots, quite as in fore-wing, but slightly larger. 



The sexes do not differ except in size, and in the $ having a rather broader 

 apical border on the upper side of the fore-wing, and the under side usually 

 paler in tint and less freckled. 



A dwarf $ , taken near Pinetown, in Natal, by Colonel Bowker, expands 

 only I in. 2^ lin. In another $ , from the same locality, the discal blackish 

 spot is on the upper side of the fore-wings much reduced, and on the under 

 side obsolescent. 



I do not think that the Narica of Fabricius, in which the apical blackish 

 tip of the fore-wing is wanting, or almost wanting, is separable from Alcesta;'^ 

 the four specimens from West Africa (Ashanti, Gold Coast) which I examined 

 in the British Museum do not in other respects exhibit any special feature, 

 except in the rather closer freckling of the under side of the hind-wing. I 

 find that South-African specimens of Alcesta almost always exhibit a smaller 

 but better-defined discal spot on the fore-wings, and a yellower tinge on the 

 under side of the hind-wings and border of the fore-wings than are found in 

 recognised "West- African examples of the species. iS'o South-African individual 

 has come under my notice in which there was any failure of the apical fuscous 

 border of the fore-wings. 



Alcesta, as found in Xatal, Zululand, Delagoa Bay, and Querimba, and also 

 in Western Africa, is very near Xiphia, Fab., inhabiting India, Ceylon, and 

 part of the Indian Archipelago, but is distinguishable by having both the 



^ Cramer's very rough figure of the upper side apparently represents a <J with scarcely 

 any apical border in the fore-wings. He notes the under side as wholly white, and gives the 

 Guinea Coast as habitat. 



