1 78 SOUTH- AFRICAX BUTTERFLIES. 



the Var. Capensis as a separate form, all the specimens that I have 

 seen from that territory presenting only the almost linear rudiment of 

 the dark border of the fore-wing ; but in Katal, Transvaal, and Delagoa 

 Bay the insect has the border more or less developed, being in the 

 last-named locality identical with the Var. Mossambicensis. Two Trans- 

 vaal specimens in the British Museum and five Natal examples in the 

 South- African Museum present a complete gradation between the Vars. 

 Capensis and Mossambicensis, which latter is scarcely separable from 

 Congo Buquetii. The only examples that I have seen from Damara- 

 land, viz., a $ taken by the late Mr. Andersson and a small yellowish 

 $ in the Hewitson Collection, both have the border moderately broad 

 and ending about first median nervule. From the Zambesi, two ^ s 

 have the border black and broad, while in a $ it is dusky and nar- 

 rower; and Oberthlir notes that Zanzibar examples are like the type 

 from Senegal. It is noticeable that the broad-bordered typical 

 Buquetii has the under side greener in tint, more glossy, and less dis- 

 tinctly irrorated and striolated, with the terminal disco-cellular spot 

 of the hind-wings narrower and k'ss rounded. 



I have not seen the Var. AraUca, but it is clear from Hopffer's 

 account that only the apex of the fore- wings is dusky-blackish, while 

 Butler's description of the under side applies very nearly to that of 

 the type-form. A small $ from Madagascar in the South-African 

 ]\Iuseum is intermediate between this variety and Mossambicensis, the 

 narrow border extending on hind-margin only a little below second 

 median nervule. 



As Doubleday {Gen. D. Lep., i. p. 65) has remarked, this plainly-tinted 

 Eronia both in colour and marking l^ears a strong resemblance to the white 

 species of Callidryas; and Cape specimens are so like C. Florella, (Fab.), both in 

 appearance and flight, that it is very difficult to distinguish the two before capture. 



Wooded spots and gardens in their near neighbourhood are the favoured 

 haunts of Buquetii, which appears at the end of January and remains out 

 until the middle of April. At Plettenberg Bay and near Graliamstown I met 

 with the $ abundantly, but ? s were scarce ; the flowers of I'lumbago^ were 

 their constant resort. They are remarkably swift on the wing, and their halt 

 on a flower is exceedingly short. At Port Elizabeth I took one specimen 

 and saw another at flowers of Agapanthus. Very rarely I have met with a 

 straggler in the neighbourhood of Cape Town during the later summer months. 

 I did not notice the species during my stay in Natal ; and the few individuals 

 I have received from that Colony were taken near Maritzburg.^ 



Localities of Eronia Buquetii. 

 L South Africa. 



B. Cape Colony. 



a. Western Districts.— Cape Town [occasional visitor]. Knysna 

 {Mrs. Muskett) and Plettenberg Bay. 



1 In the first week of February 1SS9, Mr. A. D. Millar met with about a dozen speci- 

 mens near D'Urban, and captured seven of them. These examples have the blackish border 

 mcjderately developed. 



