some British East African Butterjlies. 507 



[Address and date lost. 



This Lycaenid [A. picata"] bears a curious resemblance 

 to a small Ne^ytis, but its flight is much more feeble and 

 the " floating " character much less pronounced, so that 

 it is generally recognisable although with difficulty. It 

 also rests, as do most of its allies, with its wings hanging 

 down, which at once betrays it.] 



Before leaving Ncptis it would be as well to refer to 

 another species of the same genus, N. incongrua, Butl., 

 which has the same contrasted black and white markings 

 distributed in a manner diiferent from that of Ethiopian 

 species generally. Its peculiar pattern produces a close 

 resemblance to Eurytela hiarhas, Drury, which is found in 

 the same localities. The first specimen of iV". inco7igrua 

 which I captured quite deceived me, and it was not until 

 I had the butterfly in the net that I discovered that it 

 was not E. hiarhas. Now that I am better acquainted 

 with both species it is not likely that I should make any 

 such mistake even when the insects were on the wing, 

 but there is no doubt that the resemblance is more than 

 accidental. Mr. Marshall has recognised the resemblance 

 of an allied species of Ncptis in S.E. Rhodesia to Eurytela 

 hiarhas* 



Acrminx. There are also the females of two large 

 abundant Acr^einm which, with their mimics, should, no 

 doubt, be looked upon as outlying members of this com- 

 bination. The general effect of their pattern certainly 

 suggests that of the black and white species of Aviauris, 

 although, as in the genus Ncptis, the details of the mark- 

 ing are obviously different. The central species of this 



* Before leaving the NymphaUnae I should wish to draw attention 

 to a possible case of mimicry in the genus Charaxes. Mr. G. A. K. 

 Marshall has suggested possible cases of mimicry of one Charaxes by 

 another, and I think we have a parallel example at Taveta. 



When looking through the series of G. etheodes, Cram., at Oxford, 

 I found that the two female specimens I took at Taveta differed from 

 those Mr. Wiggins obtained in the region of the Victoria Nyanza in 

 two respects, i. e. the fulvous colouring on the fore-wings was more 

 extensive, and the white bar in the hind-wings was much narrower. 

 In both these differences the Taveta specimens approach G. saturnus, 

 Buth, and it is noteworthy that whereas G. saturnus was common at 

 Taveta, yet Mr. Wiggins did not send home a single specimen from 

 the Victoria Nyanza in his very fine series of Cliaraxes from this 

 region. 



