IT4 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



colour; a bright ferruginous liincl-marginal edging and parallel sub- 

 marginal streak, both obsolete near apex ; on anal angle a black spot. 



$ Wings rounder, especially hind-wing ; fore-wing not apically 

 prominent, but with hind-margin rather convex. Bed less metallic and 

 'paler, hut occupying a larger field, reaching nearer to base; dai'k borders 

 narrower except on costa, not so black ; cilia broader. Under side. — 

 As in ^. Forc-ining : streaks from costa not convergent. 



The central band on under side of hind-wing is sometimes quite 

 divided by the grey intersection on discoidal nervule. 



In two $ s from Port Elizabeth, taken by Mr. S. D. Bairstow, the red 

 field is more restricted than usual, especially in the hmd-wing, where the 

 costal border is broadly black as far as second subcostal nervule. A 5 from 

 the Lydenburg District of the Transvaal exhibits quite the opposite tendency, 

 having the red in both wings much enlarged and paler than usual. The three 

 (J s accompanying this $ show a slight or moderate enlargement of the red, 

 but a (J from Natal has it as much developed as in the Transvaal $ , and is 

 also remarkable for acuter wings. The five examples just mentioned all 

 possess a feature not noticed in any specimens from the Cape Colony, viz., an 

 orange-i-ed base to the cilia of the lower half of the hind-wing. 



This splendid Lycoenide frequents hill ridges and rocky " kopjes " on 

 mountain sides, seldom occurring in low-lying situations. Both sexes are 

 rapid on the wing, but the male extremely so ; female specimens are, however, 

 rarely met with, and no doubt are habitually inactive, while the males keep 

 flying about a particidar spot of limited extent, darting away in pursuit of 

 each other or of different butterflies, and quickly returning to some favourite 

 perch. Near Cape Town I have found it settling most frequently on the 

 leaves of young Proteacece and of Watsoma ; 1 have only twice noticed it on 

 flowers, and never saw it settle on the ground. Mr. T. D. Butler, the 

 Museum taxidermist, brought me a female which he found on the Devil's 

 Mountain, Cape Town, sitting on damp ground in a slight hollow. The long 

 hill lying between Wynberg and Protea is the best locality for AJpliceus near 

 Cape Town, and on one occasion I fomid it rather numerous near the highest 

 block-house on the Devil's Mountain. In this neighbourhood it is apparently 

 on the wing all the year roiind, though October and March seem to be the 

 months most favourable for it, and I have not captured it dm^ing November, 

 May, or June. 



Localities of Capys Alphceus. 

 I. South Africa. 

 B. Cape Colony. 



a. Western Districts. — Cape Town. Montagu. Knysna. 

 h. Eastern Districts. — Port Elizabeth {S. D. Bairstow). Grahams- 

 town {M. E. Barber). 

 E. Natal. — Special locality not noted (il/. ,/. M^Ken). 

 K. Transvaal. — Potchefstroom and Lydenburg District [T. Ayres). 



Genus HYPOLYC^NA. 



Hypolyccena, Felder, Wien. Ent. Monatschr., vi. p. 293 (1862); Hewit- 



son, 111. Diurn. Lep., p. 48 (1865). 

 Myri7ia [part], Westw., Gen. Diurn. Lep., ii. p. 475 (1852). 

 Amblypodia [part]. Trim., Rhop. Afr. Aust., ii. p. 226 (1866). 



Imago. — Structure more slender than in lolans. Mead small ; eyes 

 smooth ; palpi long, ascendant, divergent, — the second joint much 



