PIERIN.E. 45 



developed, the lowest being larger than on upper side. Hind-iuing : on 

 costa a narrow scarlet-red edging for a little distance from base ; sub- 

 marginal spots inclining to be pointed inwardly, especially the fourth, 

 which is smaller and thinner than all the rest ; hind-marginal spots 

 greatly reduced, sublinear, crossed by yellow nervules, the upper three 

 obsolescent or sometimes obsolete. Cilia white, widely interrupted 

 with black at ends of nervules. 



$ Hind-ivinff and (icsualli/) greater part of fore-iving paler or deeper 

 (j'ather didl) yellow-ochreous ; black markings, especially hind-marginal 

 ones of Jmid-u'ing, in some examples much larger than in $. Fore-icing : 

 basal reddish suffusion very much broader and sprinkled with grey 

 scales, — filling about three-fourths of discoidal cell ; disc sometimes 

 white, only submarginally tinged with yellow-ochreous, — sometimes all 

 faintly tinged with that colour, but more deeply so submarginally ; 

 lowest spot in submarginal row usually wanting ; hind-marginal series 

 of spots variable in development, but lowest spot always larger than 

 in $. Hind-wing : a wide basal reddish-grey speckled suffusion, reach- 

 ing from costa to submedian nervure and almost filling discoidal cell ; 

 submarginal spots (except the last) all larger and darker than in $ ; 

 hind-marginal spots in one specimen of the same form as, and no larger 

 than, in $, but in two others so enlarged as to be all but contiguous, 

 and sub-rhomboidal in form. Under side. — As in ^, hut scarlet suffu- 

 sion at base of fore-wing very much deep)er in tint, and so much enlarged 

 as to occupy threcfourths of discoidal cell and extend considerably below 

 it ; neuration whitish where on ochreous-yellow ground. 



This species, in both sexes, is subject to variation in size, and in the 

 development of the hind-marginal spots ; and the ^ also varies much 

 in the proportion and extent of the general suffusion of dull yellow- 

 ochreous in the fore- wing. Dewitz records that in examples from 

 Chinchoxo, on the Loango Coast, the $ has no basal yellow on the 

 under side of the fore-wings, and the $ has the marginal markings 

 much more extended than in the Querimba examples described by 

 Hopffer. The variety named Sabrata by Butler is distinguished by its 

 small size, and by the brighter, richer colouring of the under side of 

 the $ : it is represented in the British Museum collection (1886) by 

 two $ s and a $ from Zanzibar. 



Thysa is so remarkably like Agathina, Cram., in colouring and marking, 

 that its real alliance with the group represented by Calypso, Drury, is apt to 

 be overlooked; and up to 1866, when I had seen but one specimen (in the 

 collection of the British Museum), I was misled into regarding it as a variety 

 of Agathina. There can be little or no doubt that it directly mimics the 

 common and widely prevalent butterfly just named. ^ Though recorded over 

 rather a wide range in Africa south of the Equator, it appears to be every- 

 where scarce. Hopffer {op. cit.) states that the Peters Expedition brought a 

 few examples from Querimba. I met with a solitary $ in Natal on 22nd 



^ It is very noticeable how closely the ? follows all the variations of tint exhibited by 

 the ? M. Agathina. 



