LYC^NID.E. 59 



Plta. — Very palo gTcyish-oclireotis, dusted unequally with black- 

 ish ; the wing-covers more greenish in tint. A fuscous line down the 

 back ; some blackish spots on head and back ; two rows of blackish 

 spots on cadi side of back of aljdomen. About half an inch in length ; 

 thickest and roundest in abdominal region ; head blunt. The pupal 

 state lasts from ten to twelve days in the summer. 



Godart (loc. cit.) describes the larva in Europe as variegated with red on 

 the back, and as feeding m the pods of Colutea arhorescens, or of the com- 

 mon green pea. I have not seen any examples so marked at tlie Cape. 

 Mrs. Wollaston (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 5th series, vol. iii. p. 224, 1879) 

 mentions the partiality of the " green " larvce of iJcdica for the common 

 garden-pea both in St. Helena and Madeira ; and I have noticed the butterfly 

 about that plant in Mauritius.^ 



Except in size, this well-known and beautiful Lyccuria varies but little, 

 the males ditfering slightly in depth of blue on the upper side, and the 

 females in the development and distinctness of the discal and submarginal 

 white lunules of the hmd-wing ; while on the under side, in both sexes, the 

 submarginal white stripe and the orange hmule of the supeiior hind- marginal 

 black spot of the hind-wing present some variation. The specimen of 

 Damoetes, Fab. (Syst. Enf., p. 526, n. 350, 1775), which I examined in the 

 Banksian Collection in the British Museum, is not separable from Bcetica. 

 Examples that I captured near Algiers, in i88r, are slightly darker than the 

 South-African specimens. 



Bxtica is generally distributed in Southern Africa, and occurs throughout 

 the year, but is most numerous from October to April. It frequents numer- 

 ous legummous plants when in flower, and is fond among others of the 

 " Keurboom " {Virgilia capensis). Though able to fly with considerable 

 swiftness, it seldom does so, but flutters about the plants that chiefly attract 

 it, repeatedly settling on the flowers or leaves. 



Not only has this butterfly an immensely wide geographical distribution, 

 apparently including nearly the whole of the warmer j^arts of the Old World, 

 but it is remarkable for having established itself in oceanic islands very 

 remote from any continent. Mrs. Wollaston (luc. cit.) observes that it is 

 " the most abundant of the few " [only four species noted] " Diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera as yet found in St. Helena," and tlie llev. T. Blackburn (as noted 

 above) reared it from the larvo3 in the Hawaiian Islands. 



Inhabiting all Southern Europe, it extends sparingly into the north of 

 France, and stragglers have been captured on the South Coast of England. 



liocalities of Lyccvna Bcetica. 



I. South Africa. 

 B, Cape Colony. 



a. Western Districts. — Cape Towti. Genadendal, Calcdon District 

 {G. Hettarscli). Knysna, Plettenberg Bay. Van Wyk's Vley, 

 Carnarvon District {E. G. Alston). 



1 Mr. A. G. Butler records {Trans. Ent. Soc. Land., 18S2, p. 31) two specimens of the 

 butterfly from the Hawaiian Islands, and gives the Rev. T. Blackburn's note of having 

 bred it from larvee feeding in pods of what appeared to be a Mdilotus. These Hawaiian 

 larvje are described as of an " obscure olive-green," and as having the " dorsal .and sub- 

 dorsal lines and the region included obscurely rosy,"— which latter character accords with 

 Godart's description. The head is described as "testaceous, bearing a V-shaped mark 

 which points backward," and the spiracles as "white." 



It thus seems evident tliat the larva varies considerably more tlian tlic imago does. 



