African Species of the Genus Acraea. 163 



A. caldarena f. neluska. 



The (^ of this form difi'ers from ty})ical examples in having 

 the f.-w. black apical patch much reduced in width. In three 

 (^ examples in the Tring Museum the patch does not exceed 

 4 mm. and in one it is reduced to 3 mm. The ground-colour is 

 somewhat redder than in addarena caldarena. In one example 

 all the f.-w. spots except the discocellular, and most of the h.-w. 

 spots, are obsolescent or wanting. In colouring and general 

 appearance the form resembles A. pudorella. The 9 is like an 

 ordinary wet season specimen of caldarena. 



The early stages of caldarena caldarena are thus de- 

 scribed by Miss Fountaine, I.e.: — 



'' The larva of this butterfly also feeds on the flowers and 

 leaves of WormsJcioldia longepedimcnlata ; it is of a soft pink 

 rose colour, shading into yellow at the extremities, underneath 

 it has a longitudinal white stripe between the legs, extending 

 from head to tail ; the spines are black. The pupa is not quite 

 so elongated in sliape as that of A. nohara, the wing cases are 

 pale, dull drab veined and outlined with black, the abdomen 

 is deep cream-colour with the rows of orange spots so heavily 

 outlined with black as to be almost coalesceiit. I found this 

 larva, but not at all commonly, at Macequece." 



A. caldarena is described by Marshall as one of the 

 commonest buttertlie-^ in Mashonalaud. Dixey notes 

 (Proc. Ent. Soc, p. iii, 1906) a strong smell of musty 

 straw in the $. The relation of the pink ground-colour 

 to the seasons seems to vary in different localities. Thus 

 Marshall states (T. E. S., p. 558, 1906) that the ground- 

 colour of the wet-season males is of a richer pink, 

 whilst Neave states (Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 25, 1910) that 

 examples taken in the " hot dry Luangwa Valley " are 

 of a brighter colour, being of a peculiar shade of salmon 

 pink. 



60. Acraea pudorella. PI. XI, f. 5. PI. XV, f. 24. 

 Acraea pndorelln. 



= A. caldarena, var. pudorella, Aurivillius, Rhop, Aeth., 



p 99 (1898). 

 ^ braesia, Em. M. B. Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 337 (1894). 

 British E. Africa (Taita, Taveta, Kibwezi, Campi ya 

 Simba, Sokoke Forest, Zanzibar) ; Gekman E. Africa 

 (Irangi) ; Abyssinia (Kotscha). 



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