LYC/ENID.E. 27 



marginal black spot, ornamented externally with blaisli or greenish- 

 silvery and ringed with yellow, larger and much more distinct. 



^ Not so dark as Aster is, the blue rather j)aler and more violaceous ; 

 the white cilia regularly interrupted with fuscous, more conspicuous 

 than in $. Fore-vAng : disco-cellular spot narrower than in Astcris ; 

 blue usually not occupying upper part of discoidal cell, — in one speci- 

 men very restricted and indistinct, but crossed discally by a row of 

 elongated fuscous spots. Hind-tving : blue less developed externally ; 

 discal lunules blunter ; in one specimen two indistinct elongate dark 

 discal spots, and in another one spot ; hind-marginal rings indistinct 

 and incomplete. Under side. — As in $, but lunules of inner sub- 

 marginal row (especially in hind-wing) more acute and elongate. 



I place with this near ally of Asteris, Godt., readily separable by its 

 sti-ongly chequered cilia and non-caudate hind-wings, a 9 I captured at 

 Mossel Bay in September 1858, which, in the contiguity of the disco-cellular 

 mark and the discal row in the foi^e-wing, and in their actual confluence in 

 the hind-wing, as well as in the suffusion of the white markings generally, 

 approaches true Asferis, but in other respects agrees with Orfi/gia. 



I do not know whether this Lycana is really as scarce as it appears to be. 

 Besides the Mossel Bay example just referred to, I have not met with it 

 except in the case of a worn straggler near Cape Town ; but two specimens 

 from the neighbourhood of Grahamstown were sent to me by Mrs. Barber 

 and Mr. H. J. Atherstone. Colonel Bowker, however, found it rather preva- 

 lent in Basutoland, and forwarded twelve or thirteen examples captured in 

 January 1869. He noted that the butterfly inhabited the tops of hills, and 

 that the $ s sat quietly in the grass, not moving unless disturbed, while the 

 $ s coursed actively about. Three $ s from the Orange Free State were sent 

 to me by Mr. W. Hart at end of 187 1 ; they agreed in all respects with the 

 Basutoland examples. 



Localities of Lymma Ortygia. 



I. South Africa. 



B. Cape Colony. 



a. Western Districts. — Cape Town. Mossel Bay. 

 h. Eastern Districts. — Grahamstown (Mrs. Barber and //. /. Ather- 

 stone). 

 d. Basutoland. — Maseru and Koro-Koro (./. H. Bowker). 



C. Orange Free State. — Special locality not noted ( W. Hart). 



127. (9.) Lycaena Methymna, Trimen. 



$ Lyccciia Methymna, Trim, [part], Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 3rd Ser. 



i. p. 280 (1862). 

 $ 9 Lyaena Ceta'tis, var., Trim., Bhop. Afr. Aust., ii. p. 248 (1S66). 



Uxjx al, ($) I in. 2-5 lin. ; ($) i in. 3^-?^ ^i^^- 

 ^ Glossy dark-brown, greyish-brown or •warm reddish-ochrcous-brown ; 

 cilia ivhite, regtdarly and broadly interrupted with broivn. Fore-wing : 

 disco-cellular marking very faint and slender, or altogether obsolete; 



