1S98.] INSECTS VND .VRACHNID3 FROM SOCOTRA. 373 



late Mr. Theodore Bent and Mrs. Bent. During their visit they 

 traversed the island from Ghalansyah in the west to Ras Momi 

 in the east, and thence, after a long circuit to the south-west, 

 returned to Tamarida on the north coast. The party left the 

 island on February llth, 1897. Interesting personal accounts 

 of the expedition will be found in the ' Nineteenth Century ' for 

 June 1897, by Mr. Bent ; and in the volume of ' Longman's 

 Magazine' for 1897, by Mr. Bennett. The whole of their sojourn 

 in the island came within the period of the N.E. monsoon. 

 Atmospheric conditions were persistently dry, especially on the 

 plains ; in the mountains there was a heavy dew every morning, 

 which soon dried in the sun. Very little rain fell at any time, 

 and the thermometer never sank belovv 60° F. Exactly 100 

 specimens of insects and arachnids, which are now in the Hope 

 Museum, Oxford, were collected by Mr. Bennett. 



The Rhopalocera consist of 52 specimens, belonging to 15 

 specie^;, two of which appear to be new to science. Of these, 

 15 species, 9 were also taken by Professor Bavley Balfour, F.R.S., 

 during his visit to iSocotra between February llth and March 30th, 

 1880 \ The only one of Professor Balfour's captures not repre- 

 sented in the present collection is Chara.ves halfoitri Butl. 



Danainj;;. 



Ltmxas chrtsippus Linn. (Nos. 1,2.) 



Two specimens ; J and 2 . These are paler than the average 

 of African examples, bearing in this respect a greater resemblance 

 t specimens from India. The white spots forming the subapical 

 band are in both, but especially in the male, unusually small and 

 discrete. Some African specimens show the same character, but 

 rarely in so pronounced a form "". The Socotran male has most 

 of the veins in the hind wing, especially the branches of the 

 median, thickly covered with white scales, which also extend to 

 narrow adjacent areas of the wing, and form a ring around the 

 black patch marking the position of the submedian scent-gland. 

 A trace of the same white colouring of veins and adjacent areas 

 is also visible in the female. This is a first approximation 

 to the condition seen in var. alcippoides, Moore, wliere, however, 

 the veins themselves often retain their brown colour in the midst 

 of the whitened area of the hind wing. It is noticeable that both 

 the Socotran specimens are in fine condition, though the collection 

 as a whole has suffered much from the attacks of beetle larva3. 



" Seen only in the hills, flying strongly. Not common." — E. JV. B. 



' See Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, pp. 175-180, pi. xviii. 



^ A pair from Aden in Coll. Brit. Mus. closely resemble the Socotran 

 examples in this respect, and also in the general ground-colour. A female 

 specimen from Aden in Coll. Hope, of the same ground-colour, also shows 

 an approach to the discrete condition of the subapical white spots. Prof. 

 Balfour's Socotran specimen, a female, has like Mr. Bennett's pair a pale 

 ground-colour, but the subapical spots are less discrete. It is curious that 

 specimens of L. ckn/sippus in C(j11. Brit. Mus. from Athens. Turkey, and Svna 

 are as dark as the ordinary fm'm from Africa. 



