36 SOUTH-A-PRICAN BUTTEEFLIES. 



wings is but little wider, and if anything less bright, than in Aga- 

 thina, though very much brighter and broader than in the other two 

 species. 



With respect to the ^ s, that sex of P. Philcris is not known to 

 me;-^ but as regards the remaining species, Riqypdlii is more like 

 AgatUna than Poppca in either of its forms. It is best distinguished 

 from Agathina by (i) the broader red suffusion from base; (2) the 

 white clouding of the nervures on disc ; (3) the broader apical fuscous 

 and larger hind-marginal spots in the fore- wings ; and on the under 

 side by (5) the much paler and less yellow hind-wings and apex of 

 fore-wings, especially white on the hind-marginal edge. Both forms 

 of Fopixa, but particularly that in which the fore-wings are white, are 

 specially characterised by the enlarged hind-marginal spots of the upper 

 side, which in the fore- wings form broad, elongated nervular rays; but 

 on the under side the corresponding spots are quite as in Ruppdlii, 

 excepting that they are slightly larger. 



In both sexes of Iiuppdlii the wings are thinner and weaker in 

 structure than in Agathina, but not so delicate and semi-transi^arent as 

 in Poppca and Philcris. 



It was not until I saw M. Oberthiir's figure above quoted that I 

 knew how very close my species Ilccmus, described in 1879, was to the 

 Buppellii of Koch, which, from Felder's remarks (pp. cit.), I had sup- 

 posed to be most probably an Abyssinian variety of Agathina. Judging 

 from that figure (of the ^) and from Felder's description of another $, 

 the South- African form, though it can scarcely be separated as a 

 species from Buppellii, constitutes a variety which is of larger size, 

 better developed hind-marginal spots and fore- wing apical blackish, 

 rather more restricted basal red in fore-wing on upper side,^ and whiter 

 under side. Neither Oberthiir nor Felder describe the $ Euppellii. Two 

 ^s sent by Mr. Selous from Mashunaland in 1883 are considerably 

 nearer the Abyssinian type than specimens from South Africa proper, 

 being of smaller size, and with the black marginal markings much 

 reduced, — most of the spots (especially the upper three in the hind- 

 wing) being minute or obsolete. 



Pupa. — " Satiny- white, with a pale- green tinge dorsally ; projec- 

 tions on wing-covers tipped with ochreous-yellow and black ; faintly 

 mottled with grey ventrally. In shape closely resembles pupa of Aga- 

 thina." — J. P. Mansel Weale, in epist., February 1877. 



Mr. Weale wrote that he suspected the larva to feed on Loranthus 

 Dregei, parasitic on two kinds of Acacia, Comhrctnm, and Scholia, 

 but had not succeeded in identifying it, although he had found the 

 pupa. 



1 The butterfly figured as the ? Philcris by Boisduval {Faunc Ent. de Madag.,&.c., pi. 2, 

 f. 5) is an entirely different species, and has been named Pieris Grandidicri by Mabille. 



" In plate 10, fig. 3, the basal red of the fore-wing on the upper side is not quite wide 

 enough on the median nervure, while the basal yellow of the hind-wing is a little too much 

 extended over the discoidal cell. 



