LYC^NID^. 89 



blackish ; close to hind-margin a row of very distinct sub-lunulate 

 black spots. Forc-vnng : a longitudinal brown stripe from base (where 

 it is almost black) along subcostal nervure to a little before and above 

 extremity of discoidal cell ; three pale ochreous-brown spots near base, 

 viz., a small one on costa almost confluent with terminal disco-cellular 

 lunule, a reniform one in the cell, and an irregularly-shaped one just 

 below the second but outside the cell ; irregular discal row of spots 

 abruptly interrupted on second median nervule, between fifth and sixth of 

 its seven spots ; costa from before middle to apex edged with blackish. 

 Hind-wing : curve of costal edge close to base black ; an irregular 

 ochreous-brown basal marking formed of three or four contiguous small 

 spots ; three spots near base arranged much as in fore-wing, but the 

 uppermost one much larger ; an additional spot on inner margin near 

 base ; irregular discal row of spots abruptly interrupted between second 

 and third of its eight spots on lower subcostal nervule, and thence 

 sharply angulated in almost a direct line to about middle of inner mar- 

 gin ; the seventh (and very slightly the eighth) black spot of the hind- 

 marginal row dotted with silvery-blue. 



$ Only the basal and inner-marginal region of both wings and the 

 hind-marginal region of hind-wing lilacine-blue, the disc being white ; 

 the terminal disco-cellular spot and the transverse irregular discal row 

 as described on under side of ^, but black and more strongly marked ; 

 row of violaceous-whitish lunules internally edging hind-marginal black- 

 ish spots more conspicuous than in ^ in hind-wing, and also indis- 

 tinctly marked in fore-wing. Undeh side. — As in ^, but all the spots 

 somewhat sharper and clearer in outline. 



This species is a near ally of L. Thcsjns (Linn.), a butterfly hitherto 

 much isolated in its genus by the singular chequered pattern of the 

 under surface of the wings, which is not unlike that of several species 

 of the Hesperide genus Pyrgus. In L. BowJccri the under side, owing 

 to its purer white ground, smaller and more neatly-defined markings, 

 and very distinct hind-marginal row of black spots, indicates a depar- 

 ture from that of Thcspis in the direction of such congeners as Si/haris, 

 HopfF., and Hintza, Trim., but retains the peculiar pattern of Thespis 

 as well as the pale ochreous-brown of the spots generally. On the 

 upper surface the ^ BowJccri is readily distinguished from the $ 

 21iesins by its much less vivid, more lilacine blue, and much wider 

 hind-marginal blackish submacular border ; while the ^ may be recog- 

 nised by the much more developed discal white (especially in the 

 hind-wing and hind-marginal lunulate markings. The tail of the 

 hind-wing is in both sexes longer than in Thcsjns. 



Colonel Bowker discovered this interesting butterfly in the earlier part of 

 the year 1881, on the summit of a high table-topped hill overlooking the 

 Inchanga Valley in Natal. He met with four specimens only, two of each 

 sex, and at the time took them to belong to a local variety of Thcspis. They 

 were flitting about the flowers of a small legmninous shi-ub growing on rocks 

 at the edge of a high precipice. 



