but restricted the name of Picris to a very limited group of Tropical 

 American species (fifteen), forming Section I. of Boisduval's subdivision 

 of the old genus, and for which Hiibner's name Fcrrhylris has been 

 generally adopted. I cannot find that his genera Appias ( = Tachyris, 

 Wallace), Bdcnois, Fonda , and Synchloe are satisfactorily separable ; 

 these I regard as constituting the bulk of the genus Ficris, and they 

 contain, according to Mr. Butler, 179 described species. Of those 

 genera of Mr. Butler's which include African species, I think that 

 Mijlothris and Herpcenia are deserving of adoption, considering their 

 peculiarities of structure and pattern. 



Ficris, as here regarded, is of almost universal distribution, New 

 Zealand being the only extensive land area at any considerable distance 

 from the poles which has no known representative of the genus. Taking 

 the number of recorded species at about 230, it is noticeable that the 

 Oriental and Australian regions greatly preponderate in richness and 

 variety of forms, upwards of a hundred, or not far from half the genus, 

 being" native there, and a considerable number of these apparently 

 inhabiting both regions. The Neo-Tropical Eegion yields between 

 fifty and sixty species, and the Ethiopian about thirty-seven. The 

 great Pala?arctic Region and the Nearctic are both exceedingly poor, 

 possessing respectively fourteen and eleven species only. 



In South Africa fourteen species are known to occur ; they belong 

 to four groups, of which F. Saha, (Fab.), F. Figea, Boisd., F. Calypso, 

 Drury, and F. Daplidicc, (Linn.), may be regarded as the respective 

 representatives, viz. : — 



Group i. — Sala, Fab., representative. 



Sexes extraordinarily difierent. $ white, with an incomplete narrow 

 apical hind-marginal border in fore-wdngs ; under side with hind-wings 

 and apex of fore-wings creamy. $ with very broad black hind-mar- 

 ginal borders to both fore and hind wings, and with basi-disco-cellular 

 area of fore-wings usually also black ; under side white with similar 

 but much fainter blackish markings. The $ has an inferior abdominal 

 tuft of bristly hairs, — the characteristic of Wallace's genus Tachyris. 



(i species.) 



Group 2. — Figea, Boisd., representative. 



Sexes moderately dissimilar. $ greenish-white (in one species, P. 

 Spillcri, Stand., sulphur-yellow), with very small and inconspicuous 

 hind-marginal blackish nervular spots (scarcely apparent except at and 

 near apex of fore-wings, where they are enlarged) ; under side with 

 hind-wings and apex of fore-wings faintly tinged with yellowish or 

 greenish, sometimes speckled with fuscous and with traces of discal 

 fuscous spots in hind-wings. $ usually more or less tinged with ochre- 

 yellow, especially in hind-wings, and with one or more discal fuscous 

 spots in fore-wings ; hind-marginal nervular spots larger, especially in 

 fore-wings ; under side more deeply coloured with ochre-yellow. 



