LYCENID/E.] 83 



spot at posterior angle ; of hind-iving whitish, more or less blackish at 

 origin. Under side. — White, tvit/i hlach strico and spots; pattern as 

 in Rosimon and Hintza, but nearer liosimon. Forc-ioing : subcostal 

 stripe ending abruptly in a spot on costa before end of cell ; stria from 

 inner margin more regular ; stria closing cell straighter ; spots of 

 transverse row beyond middle confluent {tlic third forming an elongate 

 projection towards hind-margin), — the sixth and seventh widely dis- 

 joined from the rest, and forming a stria in a line with, and almost 

 touching, that closing cell ; two submarginal rows of spots, — the inner 

 linear a little below costa, but thence of large quadrate spots (the 

 second touching fifth of row beyond middle), — the outer of rounded 

 spots ; a black edging line. Ilind-icing : at base a spot (;not a stripe), 

 followed by a transverse row of four spots ; other markings very 

 much as in fore-wing, except row beyond middle, which is inter- 

 rupted as on upper side ; four to six spots of outer submarginal row 

 marked with bluish- silvery. Tail of hind-wing long, black, white- 

 tipped. 



The ^ and ^ of this species are alike, except that in the $ the 

 black is more intense, and also rather broader, so that the white discal 

 spaces are more restricted. On the under side of fore-wing it some- 

 times happens that the projection from transverse row beyond middle 

 joins the spot commencing inner submarginal row, so that a quadrate 

 white spot is isolated on costa. The entire absence of any basal blue 

 readily distinguishes Melama from liosimon and from Hintza ^ ; but it 

 is by no means so easy to separate it from Calice, Hopff., with which I 

 for many years associated it. On the upper side there is scarcely any 

 difference, but Mclana constantly presents in the fore-wing a discal 

 ivhite area almost divided transversely hy the approximation of the 

 terminal disco-cellular mark and the loiver 2^ortion of the irregular discal 

 roio, the latter being almost in a straight line beneath the former. This 

 difference is also very marked on the under side, the two markings in 

 question forming in some specimens an almost continuous stripe, 

 whereas in Calice the lower portion of the discal streak is almost con- 

 tinuous of the upper, and so remote from the terminal disco-cellular 

 streak. The principal under-side markings in Mclmna are thicker than 

 in Calice, with the exception of the lower spots of the discal series in 

 the hind-wing ; four at least of the hind-marginal black spots of the 

 hind-wing are marked with bluish-silvery ; the ground is of a purer 

 white without any slight tinge of yellowish ; the submarginal macular 

 series in the fore-wing forms a continuous streak (very attenuated be- 

 tween upper radial and third median nervule), and in the hind-wing 

 an almost continuous one ; and the cilia of the hind-wing are without 

 fuscous interruptions. 



I found this species not common in Natal in 1867 ; it frequented wooded 

 spots, and was fond of settling on the upper leaves and twigs of bushes. I 

 observed it on the wing from the beginning of February to the beginning of 



