some British East African Btitterjlies. 529 



Acnea, i. e. A. cahira, Hopff. ; A. vinidia, Hew. ; A. alicia, 

 E. M. Sharpe, and A. Urpsichore, L. (serena, Fabr.), the 

 latter being an outlying member. 



In Northern Kikuyu it is the local species A. alicia, 

 which is dominant in numbers. This species is by far the 

 most abundant butterfly in the whole country, and I once 

 counted 460 specimens which had settled for the night on 

 one small tree. A. alicia flits restlessly round bushes and 

 small trees, quite after the manner of some of the blues. 

 They settle occasionally on the trees or on low herbage. 

 The males are much the commoner. Although so different 

 on the under side, I could not distinguish the males and 

 females on the wing. The female of A. alicia is dimor- 

 phic on the under side, and the two forms bear a consider- 

 able resemblance on this surface to A. cahira, Hopff., and 

 A. vinidia, Hew. (f. tenella, Rogenh.) respectively. 



The captures of members of this group are recorded in 

 the table prepared by Professor Poulton, on p. 530. 



1. Dcscrii^tion of hvo mimetic forms of the female of Acrma 

 alicia, E. M. Sharpe. E. B. P. 



Aerma alicia, E. M. Sharpe, neio female form, caiiroides. 



The distinguishing features of this form are confined to 

 the under surface, which is alone referred to in the follow- 

 ing account. The under surface of the hind- wing and of 

 the apical region of the fore-, bears a strong superficial 

 likeness to the same parts of the larger butterfly, Acrxa 

 cahira, Hopff. The broad bar crossing the centre of the 

 hind- wing and to a less extent the sub-apical bar of the 

 fore-wing tend to become very pale, often attaining a 

 cream tint like that of the same markings in cahira. The 

 wide and complex marginal markings much resemble those 

 of cahira, the internal contour of the marginal band is a 

 pronounced bay near the apical angle of the hind-wing, 

 being strikingly similar. The sub-basal band of black 

 spots of the hind-wing is strongly developed and often 

 presents the appearance of an irregular double row, 

 although the dark red colour which is conspicuous be- 

 tween the two rows of cahira is almost wanting. Within 

 these spots the base of the hind-wing is of a greyish tint, 

 as in cahira. 



The features which distinguish cahiroides are thus con- 



