LYCiEJllD.«. 253 



Common. Hill-sides, fields, and open ground. 



October (m)— January (b). " September and March."— D'Urb., in litt. 

 Tbis handsome butterfly has a low, short flight, and frequents grassy 

 spots. Mr. D'Urban notes it as " not common " in British KafFraria. 



Knysna. Butterworth and Bashee River, Kaffraria (J. H. 

 Bovvker).— Coll. Tri. et Coll. S. A. Mus. 

 King William's Town.— Coll. W. D'Urban. 

 South Africa. — Coll. Brit. Mus. 

 ** Cape of Good Hope." — Godart. 



154. Lycaena Niobe. 



Lycasna Niobe, ^Trimen, Tr. Ent. Soc, 3rd Series, I, 



[p. ^82. 

 Allied to Z. Cissus, Godt. 



Exp. 1 in. 2 lin. — 1 in. 5 lin. 



$ . Dull cupreous-violaceous ; base purplish, and hin J- 

 margin rather widely bordered with reddish - brown in 

 both wings ; spotless ; cilia brownish in fore-wing, but 

 white at apex, in hind-wing brownish, with white tips 

 throughout. Under-side. — Dusky brownish-grey ; ocelliform 

 spots black, with pale-grey rings, arranged as in X. Cissus-f 

 but no ocellus in discoidal cell of fore-wing, and the outer 

 row of spots hardly visible on either wing ; space between 

 the two rows marked by a hoary-greyish band ; close to 

 hind-margin, a row of very indistinct, darker, lunular spots. 

 Hind-vjiy^g : between second and third median nervules, 

 close to hind-margin, a narrow, blackish dot, tipped with 

 ferruginous internally, with greyish-blue externally ; row of 

 ocelli interrupted, in one specimen nearly obliterated. 



? . Violet brighter and better defined than in $ , forming 

 a patch on inner -marginal half of both tvings, rising very 

 little above median nervure, and extending a little beyond 

 middle. Under-side. — As in $ ; spots more conspicuous, 

 especially that between second and third median nervules of 

 hind-wing, in which the ferruginous and blue colouring is 

 distinct. 



Readily distinguished from Cissus by its sombre colouring and lack of 

 orange lunules in hind-wing. Mr. Bowker has forwarded a few examples 

 from Kaffraria, differing to some extent from the above description, the $ s 

 being of a purer violet, and the ? s wholly brown (without a tinge of 

 violet) on the upper-side. 



Rare. Hill-sides. 



October (m) and March (m). 



I only took three specimens of this Lyccena daring my stay at Knysna. 

 When on the wing their flight and dark colouring gives them much the 

 aspect of many of the Safyiidce. 



