THE WHITE ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY. 



A, ACRJEA GEA; B, PSEUDACR^EA HIRCE. 



from which, however, they may ba at once distinguished by their imperfectly developed front 

 legs. They are brown, tawny, or yellowish-white, marked with slender transverse lines, most 

 conspicuous on the under side, which is generally of a paler colour. There is a lobe at the anal angle 

 of the hind wings, and a long tail at the lower part of the hind margin. There is another group 

 with much longer wings, somewhat re- 

 sembling the tawny species of Colcenis 

 in colour, size, and shape, except that 

 there are three tails on the hind wings, 

 that in the middle being the longest. 



We have already spoken of Hypo- 

 limnas misippus, and the extraordinary 

 resemblance of the female to Danais 

 chrysippus. Several of the smaller 

 species of Hypolimnas resemble the genus 

 Euplcea, but others are among the largest 

 and handsomest of the Butterflies inhabit- 

 ing Asia and Africa. One of the com- 

 monest African species is H. salmacis, 

 which averages four inches in expanse. 

 It is a dark brown Butterfly, broadly 

 banded with white and blue. An African 

 genus allied to this is called Pseudacrcea, 

 from the great similarity of several of 

 the species included in it to those of the 

 genus Acrcea. 



The White Admiral (Limenitis 

 sibylla) is a black Butterfly with white 

 markings, and is considered a rather scarce insect in England. Its elegant sailing flight has long been? 

 celebrated ; and Haworth tells a story of an old entomologist who was too infirm to chase Butterflies 

 any longei-, but who would sit for hours together on a stile which commanded a view of a spot much 

 frequented by this Butterfly, for the pleasure of watching its graceful evolutions on the wing. There 

 is another European species of Limenitis (L. Camilla), which is more sharply marked than the 

 English, and is of a bluish-black. It appears rather later in the summer, and I have generally met 

 with it flying round detached bushes, rather than in woods. The larva? of both these Butterflies feed, 

 on honeysuckle. Many handsome species of Limenitis, differing very much from the English, and 

 generally much larger, are found in India and North America. 



NepLis and Athyma are genera closely allied to Limenitis. The species are very numerous ia 



the East Indies, but a few are African, and two species of 

 }Neptis are European. They are dark brown Butterflies, with 

 a white streak, often divided into two or three, running from 

 the base of the fore wings. Rather beyond the middle of the 

 fore wings is a transverse white band, more or less divided 

 into spots, and more widely interrupted in the middle of the fore 

 wings. Towards the margins is an outer row of smaller white 

 markings. This general description will apply to almost all the 

 species, except that the white markings are often replaced with 

 tawny. 



Hamanumida dcedahis is a common African Butterfly, not remarkable for its beauty, but 

 curious for its resemblance in colour to a Guinea-fowl, being grey, with several rows of white spots, 

 edged with black. The under surface is more yellowish, but varies a good deal in intensity of colour. 

 The obscure colouring of this insect must make it very inconspicuous, especially as the variations are 

 said to correspond to the colour of the soil in the district where it occurs. 



The splendid genus Apatura includes the Purple Emperor (A. iris), one of the finest of the 

 244 



WHITE ADMIRAL. 



