LYC^NID^E. 233 



Bashee River, KafFraria (J. H. Bowker). Coll. Tri. et 

 S. A. Mus. 



" Graham's Town. King William's Town (Mrs. Drake)." 

 Coll. D'Urb. 



Natal. Coll. W. C. Hewitson. 



Genus LYC/ENA. 



Lycsena, Fab., &c. 

 Polyommatus, Latr., Godt. 



IMAGO. Usually of slender structure. Head rather 

 small : eyes often hairy ; palpi rather long, ascendant, 

 laterally compressed, scaly, in some species hairy beneath, 

 last joint short, acute : antenna of moderate length or rather 

 short, ringed with white, the club abruptly formed, usually 

 flattened. Fore-wings rather elongate : costa nearly straight 

 after basal curve : hind-margin more or less convex. Hind- 

 wings : hind-margin bearing a short linear tail on third 

 median nervule in many species ; anal angle not produced ; 

 inner-margins not forming a groove. 



LARVA. Broad, onisciform, slightly pubescent : usually 

 green or yellow, with longitudinal and oblique lateral streaks. 



PUPA. Short, thick, rounded, smooth. 



This beautiful Genus seems to attain its maximum of 

 development in Europe, no less than sixty-nine species being 

 catalogued in Staudinger's recent list. Only four of the 

 European species are tailed, and of these two, JBoetica and 

 Telicanus, occur in South Africa. The species, as in most 

 large Genera, are, in many instances, very closely allied ; 

 and, owing to the scant knowledge we possess of the earlier 

 states of these butterflies, it is often extremely difficult, if 

 not impossible, to draw the line between species and varieties. 

 The general uniformity of pattern chiefly causes this difficulty, 

 and in colouration, also, the species run into each other in a 

 remarkable manner. 



I have adopted the division of the Genus into tail-less and 

 tailed species as most convenient and obvious, but there is no 

 clear line of division between these groups, though the 

 species seem to a certain degree capable of arrangement 

 around two type-forms, of which, in South Africa, L. Boetica 

 and L. Cissus may be regarded as the respective representa- 

 tives. There is also a concurrent difference of flight and 

 habits between the two groups, the tailed species, as a rule, 

 more resembling Thecla and the allied robuster Genera in 

 these respects, while the tail-less, or what may be termed, 



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