Forms of South-African Butterflies. 8l 



Colony ; while two or three vari;itions — all in the direction 

 of a brighter yellow ground-colour and diminution of the 

 black markings as well as of the blackish borders, — 

 prevail in the other parts of the Colony, and (to judge 

 from a single Transvaal $) probably also furtlier to the 

 north. 



An outline figure of the fore-leg of the $ is shown, to 

 illustrate the full development of the tarsi, — a condition 

 so rare in the Lycienidse of that sex that I only know of 

 two other genera, Lachnocnema and Askmr/a*' — also African 

 — in which it occurs. 



* I have only quite lately discovered that the genus Aslauga (Kirby, 

 1890) agrees witli tlie two other Lycasnide genera named in this 

 respect. Mr. A. D. Millar sent me, in 1891, from Durban, a single 

 example of what I held to be a slight variation of the exceedingly 

 rare Aslauga jmrpurascens (Holland), described ['Psyche,' 1890, V, 



B424] from a single specimen taken on the Ogowe Eiver, Gaboon. 

 r. Halland's insect was recorded as a ? , and the Durban sjjecimen 

 appeared to be of that sex from an examination of the fore-tarsi. I 

 returned the latter to Mr. Millar, and not until early in January 

 1906 did I see it again ; when it came accompanied by a second 

 example, taken at Durban recently by Mr. H. A. Green, in whose 

 collection it had been detected by Mr. Millar. This second South- 

 African specimen is undoubtedly a ^ , possessing a rather conspicuous 

 white-scaled elongate sexual badge seated on the upper-side of the 

 sub-costal nervnre of the hind-wing, but the fore-tar.<i are fully 

 articulated and clawed terminally just as in the ? . In the first 

 Durban specimen there is no sign of this badge, and the rather 

 fainter and duller colouring supports the belief that it is a 9 • 



On comparing these examples with the closely-allied A. marshalU, 

 Butler (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1898, p. 908), of which I possess four 

 specimens taken at Salisbury, Mashunaland, by Mr. G. A. K. 

 Marshall, I find that three of the latter exhibit a similar ^ badge, 

 but thinner and of a duller white than that borne by the Durban 

 individual, while having the fore-tarsi completely articulated and 

 bearing terminal claws. 



It is noticeable that the two Natalian specimens are considerably 

 closer to the Gaboon type oi A. purpurascens than to the Mashunaland 

 A. marshalU. From the former they differ chielly in the very much 

 fainter almost obsolete common dark streak running from immedi- 

 ately before apex of fore-wing to a little before anal angle of hind- 

 wing on the under-side ; while the Mashunaland form is on the 

 upper-side duller and browner, with a fainter purjdish (not blue) 

 gloss, and not darker marginally or paler centrally in fore-wing as 

 in purpurasrens, and differs besides on the under-side in its warmer 

 more ochrey-yellowish tint not inclining to whitish towards the hind- 

 margins, so that the fuscous irroration is less conspicuous, the common 

 dark streak being extremely faint or altogether absent. It is possible 

 that A. marshalli, which has the angulation of the wings more 

 pronounced, may be a seasonal form of A. purpurascens. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906. — PART I. (mAY) 6 



