LAMPIDES ETHODA, WLK., AND LYC^NA ITEA, WLK. 99 



exterior lines three, nearly straight, the third nearly ohsolete towards 

 the costa. Hind wing : exterior lines four, slightly zigzag ; a black- 

 bordered dot on the disk near the base ; spot near the tail like that 

 on the upper side. Cairo. 



56. Lijcana itea, n. 



Expands 11 lines ; purplish ; wings toward the base and body 

 dark blue. Wings with a narrow aeneous band along the hind 

 margin ; fringe white. Under side cinereous : a black, subcostal, 

 postmedial dot ; a transverse, pale-brown, white-bordered streak in 

 the disk ; some exterior, interrupted, incomplete, transverse, pale- 

 brown, white-bordered lines ; marginal line black. Fore wing : four 

 exterior lines, the second much shorter than the others. Hind wing : 

 a black basal streak ; an antemedial transverse line composed of three 

 black white-bordered dots ; subcostal dot much larger than that of 

 fore wing. Five exterior lines, the fifth with two black dots on the 

 posterior angle. Cairo. Francis Walker. 



Until the autumn of 1916 I had only taken one specimen, and 

 that a very bad one, of Azaniis uhaldus, Cr.,* in Egypt. In early 

 October, 1916, I took a battered female in the desert near 

 Kassassin, doubtless blown by the wind from the adjacent culti- 

 vation in the Wadi Tnmilat. This put me on the qui rive, and 

 on October 18tii I found A. nb(Mus common on Gezira Island, 

 Cairo, flying round the flowers of a lofty specimen of Acacia 

 seij!/fd. From this date to December 9th it occurred in the 

 neighbourhood of a number of " fitna " trees {Acacia farnesiana) 

 at Gezira and in the Kasr-el-Dubara quarter of Cairo. It might 

 easily be mistaken for small Syntarucus telicanus, var. egyptiaca, 

 Bethune Baker, and has doubtless passed unnoticed by many 

 collectors owing to this resemblance. It spends most of its time 

 flying about the flowers and branches of the acacia. The male 

 is a combative little creature, attacking the other great frequenter 

 of '* fitna," ViracJwla {HypolyccBna) livia, and other insects which 

 may approach it. Males sometimes fight for the perch at the 

 end of a long acacia branch, and tower while fighting to a con- 

 siderable height in the air. The females are less active. They 

 oviposit on the yellow acacia flowers. Both sexes appear very 

 intolerant of cold or cloudy weather, disappearing as soon as the 

 sky is overcast. 



Dr. Debski, of Heluan, has bred the imago from larvaB taken 

 on the flowers of A. farnesiana. 



So far, there is no evidence that the larvse in Egypt are 

 myrmecophilous. 



After examining my series (19 males and 11 females) of this 

 species, I came to the conclusion that Lam'pides etlioda was the 

 female and Lyaena itea the male of this species. Mr. H. Rowland- 

 Brown, by kindly communicating Walker's original description, 



* P. 209, pi. 590, figs. L, M. 



