2 Mr. H. Eltringham on the Forms and 



Department, the National Collection, and the Tring 

 Museum, comprising some hundreds of examples, and 

 have made a large number of microscopical preparations, 

 with results which it is the purpose of the present paper 

 to describe. 



As a preliminary it seems desirable to give some 

 accotmt of the known forms and the present state of their 

 synonymy. 



ACRAEA LYCOA. 



Acraea lycoa was described by Godart in 1819 (Enc. 

 Meth.) from a female example, and the author stated that 

 it was not known whether the sexes were alike. The 

 first reference I can find to the male is in Staudinger's 

 "Exotische Schmetterlinge," where the difference between 

 the sexes is mentioned. Fig. 2 on Plate I shows the 

 typical western female drawn from an example received 

 from Sierra Leone, whilst fig. 1 shows a male from Oguta, 

 Nigeria. In the female the depth and richness of the 

 ground-colour varies somewhat, though it is in practically 

 every case paler than in more eastern forms. The male 

 is frequently semi-transparent, and the forewing spots 

 may be only very faintly discerned. Examples from 

 Accra and Nigeria present no distinct modifications from 

 the extreme western forms. The first recosrnisable change 

 is observable in males from Fernando Po. These resemble 

 fig. 1, but the spots on the forewings are now quite 

 distinct, and of the same pale reddish colour as the discal 

 area of the hindwings, and the whole ground-colour is 

 somewhat darker. The females are still like fig. 2, but 

 with darker ground-colour. These forms persist over a 

 large area, extending without marked variation from 

 Fernando Po, through the French Congo, and across the 

 Congo State to Toro in S.W. Uganda. At Toro several 

 varieties may be found, since it is here that three geo- 

 graphical races appear to meet. From this point the 

 species spreads north and south. Between Lake Victoria 

 Nyanza and Lake Kivu (Mt. Niragonwe) the males 

 resemble fig. 3, whilst fig. 4 shows a female from the 

 same locality. To the north of Toro in the Unyoro Region 

 the male is modified in a somewhat different manner. 

 As fig. 5 shows, the forewing spots have become much 

 smaller and more clearly defined, though there is much 

 less development of the hindwing patch than in the 



