soue British East African Butterjiies. 



545 



I have seen * and one which may throw some light on the 

 causes of the seasonal change. 



The season should normally have been in the very 

 height of the shorter dry season. But the seasons there 

 are somewhat uncertain. Normally the smaller wet season 

 is almost confined to November in Taita; after which 

 comes the hottest and driest part of the whole year when 

 insect life is at a minimum. The greater rains normally 

 come about the middle of March or later. This year 

 [1906] the rainfall in the latter rains was heavier than 

 usual and lasted till much later. Moreover, there was heavy 

 rain (5 inches or more) during the first week in February 

 and I got the wet phase of P. antilopc on the twelfth. 



The falls are very local in these latter rains, and some 

 places in Taita have suffered from a great deficiency of 

 water, even this year, whilst in Taveta 50 miles away we 

 hardly had any rain at all. 



c. Precis archesia, loet-scason form pelasgis. E. B. P. 



The collection of this interesting and puzzling species 

 from Weithaga was made during the following months : — 

 1906, August (7 specimens); 1907, February (2 specimens) ; 

 March (4 specimens) ; April (4 specimens) ; May (1 speci- 

 men). It is not necessary to record the precise dates ; for 

 the whole of these, together with 7 Weithaga specimens, 

 bred Feb. -April 1907, are of the wet form 2'>clasgis, although 

 falling short to a varying extent from the full wet forms 

 of southern Africa. 



Five eggs laid, Feb. 24, 1907, by a female on the wild 

 food-plant were collected, although the parent unfortunately 

 escaped. It was however a typical British East African 

 wet-season female. The following table shows the very 

 uniform length of the stages in the 5 individuals : — 



* The Hope collection contains a wet phase antilope captured by 

 the author at Taita on May 26, 1905. 



