LYC^NID^. 103 



In a ^ from Swellendam, Cape Colony, the discal row is very much 

 narrowed, and its whitish edges, as well as those of the other markings, are 

 everywhere suffused and confluent with the adjacent ones. 



The bright-violaceous upper side, with its broad cupreous-brown borders, 

 at once distinguish the ^ Otacilla from the same sex in Liodes and Sylvanus, 

 and approximate it to L. Uvula, Trim., in which, however, the violaceous is 

 very much duller and more limited in extent. In the 9 Otacilia, on the 

 contrary, the upper side is almost devoid of violaceous. The under side is of 

 a browner less grey tint than in its congeners, and the markings on the whole 

 most resemble those of the $ Liodes. In size Otacilia is the smallest of the 

 South-African species of Lijcainestlies. 



The Otacilia of Hewitson {Illustr. Diurn. Lep., pi. 92, ff. 35-37, 1878), 

 which I have examined in that author's collection, is, I think, a distinct 

 species, the $ having the upper side violaceous much intenser, and occupying 

 a considerably larger space (especially in the fore-wing), and the $ present- 

 ing almost as much as in the $ Otacilia, milii ; both sexes further exhibitmg 

 a very conspicuous bright-orange crescent boundmg the black hind-marginal 

 spot of the hind-wings. On the under side the markings are darker and more 

 pronounced. Mr. Hewitson's specimens were ticketed as natives of Angola 

 and Sierra Leone. 



This little species seems rather widely spread in South Africa, but is not 

 frequent in collections. The first specimen that came under my notice was 

 sent from Swellendam in 1864 by Mr. L. Taats. Mrs. Barber subsequently 

 sent one from Grahamstown, and Colonel Bowker two from Kaft'raria Proper, 

 and one, captured on ist May 1874, from King William's Town. It was 

 not until January 1876 that I met with the species at all numerously. At 

 Robertson, in the Cape Colony, during that month, I observed a good num- 

 ber about the flowers of Acacia horrida, and captured examples of both sexes. 

 Like the rest of the genus, they wei^e active and wary, and not very easy to 

 secure among the thorny bushes under the noonday sun of Jnnuaiy. I had 

 previously (in March 1867) taken a single female at Greytown, Natal. 



Localities of Lyccenesthes Otacilia. 



I. South Africa. 

 B. Cape Colony. 



a. Western Districts. — Robertson. Swellendam (L. Taats). 



b. Eastern Districts. — Grahamstown (M. E. Barber). King Wil- 



liam's Town (J. H. Boiclier) 



D. Kaffraria Proper. — Tsomo River (/. H. Bowlier). 



E. Natal. 



b. Upper Districts. — Greytown. Estcourt (/. M. Ilutcldnson). 



II. Other African Regions. 



A. South Tropical. — Central Interior. — " Victoria Falls, Zambesi 

 River {F. Oafes)."— Westwood. 



172. (6.) Lycsenesthes livida, Trimen. 

 Plate VII., ff. 7(c?), 7«(?)- 

 $ , '^ Lyccenestlies livida, Trim., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 18S1, p. 443. 



Exp. al., {$) I in. — i in. 2 lin. ; ($) i in. i^ liu. — 3 liu. 

 ^ Shining greyish-'b7'0ivn, witli a cupreous gloss ; in both icings a 

 very pale greyish-hlice suffasion from base. Fore-ioing : the suffusion 



