ilQ RIIOPALOCERA AFRICA AUSTRALIS. 



12. Pontia Alcesta. 



Papilio Alcesta, Cram., Pap. Exot., pi. 379, f. A. 



Papilio Narica, Fah., Ent. SysL, III, 1, p. 187, n. 378. ' 



Pieris Narica, Godt., Enc. Meth., IX, p. 163, n. 149. 



Pontia Narica, Boisd., Sp. Gen. Lep., I, p. 433, n. 3. 

 ,, ,, ,, Voy. de Deleg., p. 586. 



Pontia Alcesta, Doubl., West. Hewits., Gen. Dinrn. Lep.^ 



[pi. 5, f. 5. 



Var ? Leucophasia sylvicola, Boisd., Faune de Mad., p. 20. 



Expands 1 in. 3 lin. — 2 in. 2 lin. 



White. Fore-wing : apex faintly edged with blackish in 

 $ , more widely bordered in $ ; in most specimens a round, 

 faint-blackish spot, near hind-margin, on first and second 

 median nervules. Hind-iving spotless. Under-side. — 

 White. Fore-wing : dusky, thin, greenish-grey hatchings at 

 base, along costa, and at apex. Hind-wing : universally 

 hatched with slightly fainter marks than those in fore-wing ; 

 generally three ill-defined greyish strise across the wing. 



M. Boisduval says, in bis "Faune Entomologique de Madagascar, &c." 

 p. 20, that his Sylvicola may " possibly be only a variety of Narica." Spe- 

 cimens in the South African Museum, taken by Mr. E. L. Layard in 

 Madagascar, contirm this theory ; and I have no doubt of their being spe- 

 cimens of Alcesta. 



" Natal. — In woods of Mimosa " — Boisd. (Voy. de Deleg). 

 Senegal. Sierra Leone. Fernando Po. Congo. — Coll. Brit. 



[Mus. 

 Madagascar. — Coll. S. A. Mus. (var. Sylvicola, Boisd.) 



Genus PIERIS. 



Pieris, Schr., Boisd., Sec. 

 Pontia, Fab. 



Imago. — Head of moderate size ; eyes smooth ; pa^i 

 rather long, scaly, hairy beneath ; antennce long, slender, 

 with a rather abrupt, laterally-compressed club. Thorax 

 moderately robust, hairy. Fore-wings with costa arched near 

 base, and thence almost straight to apex (in both species) ; 

 apex more or less pointed (very much so in P. Gidica $ ) ; 

 hind-margin straight, or slightly concave about its central 

 position, entire ; inner-margin slightly concave. Hind-wings 

 sub ovate ; hind-margin very convex, entire ; inner-margins 

 covering fully half of under-side of abdomen. Legs of 

 moderate length and thickness. Abdome^i rather long and 

 slender, thickened at the end. 



There is a curious tendency to yellow colouring in many 

 of the South African " Whites." This is chiefly manifested 



