LYaENID.E. 51 



Wkitish-greij ; with minute, whitish-ringed blackish spots ; in both 

 wings a thin, greyish, whitish-edged mark closing discoidal cell ; a 

 transverse row of spots beyond middle (that of fore-wing curved, com- 

 mencing with two minute spots on costa he/ore and about middle, and 

 reaching to submedian nervure ; that of hind- wing sharply curved, 

 composed of eight spots, from costa about middle to inner-margin) ; 

 two dentate, submarginal, lunular, greyish, whitish-edged lines, — the 

 outer one broader, interrupted, macular ; and a thin, black, bounding 

 line immediately before cilia. Hind-wing : a basal black spot ; before 

 middle a transverse row of four spots ; no metallic-centred spots near 

 anal angle. 



^ Didl-broivn. Under side. — As in $ ; spots more distinct. 



In the ^ the dark hind-marginal border of the fore-wing is always 

 wider at the apex, but varies considerably in width as well as in tint, 

 in some examples being much darker and with a well-defined inner 

 edge, emitting shoi't nervular rays, while in others it is suftYised and 

 without defined inner edge. The border of the hind-wing is constantly 

 narrow and not well-defined inwardly, the costa being also bordered 

 with brownish-grey as far as first subcostal nervule. In the ^ there is 

 rarely a faint basal and discal suSusion of grey on the upper side. A 

 specimen which I took in Griqualand West, which is larger and paler 

 generally than usual, best exhibits this feature. 



This is undoubtedly the same insect that is described and figured by 

 Moore {op. cit.) as Pygmcea, of Snellen, a native of Java and Ceylon, — speci- 

 mens that I examined in the British IMuseum only differing in the less dis- 

 tinctly marked under side. Though apparently belonging to the Lysimon 

 group, it is of much more slender structure thoughout, and has remai'kably 

 elongate wings. These characters, combined with its whiter under side 

 (which has much more sharply cvirved discal rows of spots, but is without 

 cellular or subcellular spot near base of fore-wing) readily distinguish Gaika 

 from Lysimon. 



I found this little Lyccena in some abundance about D'Urban, in Natal ; 

 it flew very feebly, near the ground, among grass and weeds. It seems to be 

 on the wing for the greater part if not the whole of the year ; for I took it 

 in Jime, August, February, and March in Natal, and during September in 

 Griqualand West. It extends to many other parts of Natal, but seems to be 

 scarcer inland. Colonel Bowker sent several examples from Zululand ; and 

 northwards the species ranges beyond the Tropic into Damaraland on the 

 Western Coast. Its most southern locality known to me is the coast of 

 Bathurst in the Cape Colony. So small and inconspicuous a butterfly is, 

 however, apt to be overlooked by collectors, and, looking to its wide geo- 

 graphical range, there can be no doubt that it inhabits very many stations 

 as yet imrecorded.^ 



1 In the British Museum there is a (J Lyccvna, ticketed " Pernanibuco," which is very 

 closely allied to, if not identical with, L. Gaika. The only distinctions I could discover were 

 its hind-marginal border of the fore-wings being broader than usual, and the lunules of the 

 inner submarginal line on the under side being sagittiform instead of nearly straight. 



