146 Mr. H. Eltriughain's Monograph of the 



examples before ine have the spot in one wing and not 

 ill the other. The subspecies manca is described later. 



It is scarcely possible from the wing pattern alone to 

 distinguish with certainty between all the races of acrita. 

 They can, however, be to some extent distinguished (save 

 in the case of transitional forms) by tiie central process of 

 the dorsal abdominal plate which covers the male arma- 

 ture. In 2^'^^dorina this is very short and cup-like, in 

 littoralis it is of medium length and blunt, in acrita acrita 

 it is long and somewhat spatulate, but in hellona it is 

 usually (though not invariably) pointed, whilst there is 

 always a prominent tooth, sometimes of bifid structure, at 

 the base on the ventral side. These features can usually 

 be observed in the dried specimen merely by the aid of a 

 lens, especially after the characteristic appearance has 

 been studied from the plates accompanying the present 

 work. 



To give a minute description of all the named forms of 

 A. acrita would scarcely, I think, owing to the great 

 variability of the species, serve a useful purpose. I shall 

 therefore endeavour to give such typical descriptions, 

 together with an account of the principal directions in 

 which variation takes place, as should enable the collector 

 to identify as nearly as possible, examples of the species. 



With the exception of extreme wet-season forms of the 

 female, acrita may generally be recognised by the peculiar 

 flame orange-colour of the wings, usually with a paler or 

 even whitish discal bar in the f.-w., by the absence of spots 

 beyond the end of f.-w. cell (except in manca) by the 

 presence of three, usually well marked (except in pudorina'), 

 often very prominent, black spots in f.-w., one on the end 

 of cell, one in area 2, and one in lb, the latter close to 

 margin, and all three in a straight line at right angles to 

 the costa. 



The following typical examples may be thus further 

 described : — 



A. acrita acrita. 



^ . Expanse 60-72 mm. Dry season. Ground-colour of all the 

 wings flame orange, tending basally to scarlet. Outer half of f.-w. 

 rich orange. A narrow black line along costa. A black apical 

 tip about 2 mm. wide, and a narrow black line round margin. 

 A large black spot in cell above, and usually slightly beyond 

 origin of 2. On up])er half of end of cell a double spot. In 



