Ixiii 



Dr. Jordan has sliovvn that the antennae, in spite of their 

 clubless condition, are certainly Pierine (Nov. Zool., v, 1898, 

 pp. 376, 382, PL xiv, f. 28). 



A curious point remains. Aurivillius, both in his own 

 book and in Seitz's " Macrolepidoptera," has included in the 

 genus Pseudopontia a second supposed species, Pseudopontia 

 cepheus Ehrm., but in each case with a caution that it may 

 not belong to this genus. The original description by 

 Ehrmann leaves little doubt that his insect, which came 

 from Grand Sess in Liberia, is a Nychitona, and not a Pseudo- 

 pontia at all.* In our Proceedings for 1906, pp. Ixix, Ixx, 

 speaking of Pseudopontia paradoxa and Nychitona medusa, 

 I said, " It may well be anticipated that future observation 

 will show their likeness in appearance to have a mimetic 

 significance." From what has been said, it seems likely 

 that the deception has at any rate been successfully exercised 

 upon a human expert. Another confirmation came from 

 Dr. Neave's observations in the field. In 1907 he wrote, 

 " the two forms inhabit exactly the same localities and are 

 barely distinguishable from each other on the wing " (Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. Lond., 1908, p. xiii). It may be worth mentioning 

 that Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter, writing in 1915, speaks as 

 follows concerning Leuceronia pharis, a butterfly which I con- 

 sidered (loc. cit.) to belong to the same mimetic combination : 

 " L. thalassina (both cJ and $) frequently assembles to drink 

 at moist spots, often almost entirely by itself, but sometimes 

 mingled with others, whereas pharis is purely a flower- 

 frequenter. In my own mind I had put it with Nychitona 

 medusa; its whole appearance and feeble build and manner 

 of flying suggested close relationship to medusa " (Proc. 

 Ent. Soc. Lond., 1915, p. xcvii). Dr. Neave's and Dr. Car- 

 penter's conclusions are confirmed and Pseudopontia shown 



* Ehrmanu's description is as follows : " Male — Upperside of all the 

 wings pure white; apex of primaries has a sharji cut square black spot, 

 and in the sub-apical space there is a medium-size black triangulate 

 spot. Underside of primaries, the ground-colour is the same as above 

 with the markings on the apical and sub-apical sjmce faintly repro- 

 duced ; the basal space is slightly shaded with pale green, marbled with 

 faint black striae. Expanse, If inch. Types from Grand Sess, West 

 Africa." Journal of New York Ent. Soc, vol. ii, No. 2, June, 1S94, 

 p. 77. 



