From the ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, 

 Ser. 6, Vol. xviii., December 1896. 



A new Butterfly of the Genus Acrgea t /r0wi Tuyela, S. Africa. 

 By A. G. BUTLER, Ph.D. &c. 



MR. G. H. BURN, of Tugela, Natal, South Africa, writes 

 under date of September 16th as follows : u I am to-day 

 forwarding for your inspection two specimens of an Acrcea 

 which I have taken here, and which I believe is new to 

 science. This butterfly I first took on September 5th, 1894, 

 and I sent two or three specimens to Mr. R. Trimen, then 

 Curator of the Cape Museum. In his letter acknowledging 

 receipt Mr. Trimen says that the Acrcea is new to science, 

 and asks me to try and obtain the paired sexes, as the 

 females (or those specimens which had the appearance of 

 females) did not exhibit the ordinary distinguishing characters 

 of females of the genus Acrcea. I send you what I believe 

 to be a male and a female. Since 1894 I only got twelve or 

 thirteen specimens until this month." 



The examples forwarded are undoubtedly a pair. In 

 colouring they do not differ, excepting that the male is 

 slightly brighter in tint ; but the male is considerably smaller 

 than the female, the discrepancy in size being greater than in 

 the allied species. It may, however, vary in this respect. 



Acrcea Burni, sp. n. 



Intermediate between A. machequena and A. obeira } the 

 pattern being identical with that of the latter species, but 

 the basal half of the primaries and entire ground-colour of 

 the secondaries is ochreous buff; the spots on the secondaries 

 are smaller than in A. obeira, and the orange spots upon the 

 dusky outer border are less deep in colour. 



Expanse of wings, $ 38, ? 60 millim. 



Tugela, Natal, South Africa (G. H. Burn). 



From A. machequena this species is easily distinguished 

 by the arrangement of the spots on the secondaries, which, 

 in that butterfly, has the character of that of A. ranavalona. 



