riERlN.E. 173 



depicts. In these examples the subapical spots of the ground-colour 

 iu the fore-wings are almost invariably larger than usual, and are often 

 so extended as to become confluent, thus forming as large a marking 

 as that shown in yellow on the under side. The extreme in this direc- 

 tion is reached in an individual sent from King William's Town by 

 Miss F. Bowker, where the confluent spots make a small apical patch, 

 broadly bounded by black inwardly, but inferiorly completely united 

 with the ground-colour, and the hind-margin bears only a narrow 

 blackish edging; while in the hind-wing the border is reduced to a 

 series of quite separate ill-defined tliin nervular fuscous marks with a 

 small separate spot indicating the customary marked projection. 



The $ is not nearly so frequently met with as the ^ ; among fifty- 

 five specimens, from all parts of South Africa, now before me, only 

 eight are ^ s. In a pair taken in copuld by Colonel Bowker in March 

 1879, the sexes do not difler much either in size or pattern, the white 

 $ being the broadest-bordered that I have seen, while the yellowish $ 

 is of medium character in that respect. 



A dwarf very narrowly-bordered $, taken at D'Urban, Natal, by the 

 late Mr. M. J. M'Ken, expands less than i in. 10 lin. In this example 

 the subapical spots of the fore-wing border are normal, but the hind- 

 wing border has its inner edge quite even. 



Hopffer {Peters' Eeise n. Mossamh., Ins., p. 363) and Oberthur 

 {Etudes tVEnt., iii. p. 21) independently note the large size and broad 

 border of East -African examples (respectively from Querimba and 

 Zanzibar) in comparison with those from South Africa ; it is probable 

 that they both refer to specimens of the $. 



Mrs. Barber wrote to me that the larva of this species fed on a Capparis,^ 

 and subsequently Mr. J. P. INIansel AVeale informed me that Capparis Zej/heri 

 was the food-plant. Mr. Weale added that the larva much resembled that of 

 Teracolus Auxo (Lucas) ; it was difficult to find, its reddish-yellow lateral stripe 

 matching in tint the edge of the leaves. 



This strikingly marked Eronia, which has peculiarly soft rich under-side 

 colouring, is widely distributed, and apparently numerous in most parts of South- 

 Eastern Africa. It has been recorded from various places on the Tropical East 

 Coast, and from as far north as Shoa in Abyssinia. It is swift on the wing, 

 but has the family habit of pitching frequently on flowers ; and at D'Urban, 

 iS^atal, I took a fine series at flowers of the introduced Vinca rosea during the 

 month of February. These summer specimens (including a few $ s) were all 

 of the larger broad-bordered description ; but two $ s Avhich I captured, one in 

 June and the other in August 1865, were small and narrow-bordered. As two 

 $ s taken by Colonel Bowker (at King William's Town in May and at D'Urban 

 in August respectively) are also small and narrow-bordered, I am disposed to 

 think °that this form of the butterfly may possibly be the winter brood, but 

 hitherto there have been no correspondingly narrow-bordered $ s recorded as 

 occurrincr in the winter months.^ 



1 I have lately (iSS8) discovered in the South- African Museum a pair marked as taken 

 in copuld by Colonel Bowker at D'Urban on nth May 1879. These specimens are much 

 smaller { i , 2 \n. 2 lin., $ , 2 in. 4 lin. across fore-wings) than the pair above mentioned as 

 taken in INIarch of the same year, and both have the black border considerably narrower. 



INIr. Alfred D. Millar informs me that the butterfly is very common all the year round at 



