74 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTEEFLIES. 



tarsus of about equal length ; tibia a little shorter, ending in a blunt 

 spur, and with a few bristles superiorly ; tarsus with four joints, shortly 

 spinose beneath and at extremity. Middle and hind legs of moderate 

 length, rather slender ; femur scaly ; tibite with a few spines beneath, 

 and with terminal spurs long ; tarsi spinose inferiorly. 



Abdomen short, in 6 very slender. 



The butterflies of this genus are very nearly allied to Erelia — a 

 group well known from its great development in the Alpine tracts 

 of Central Europe. They are, however, separable by the following 

 characters, viz., (i) their much less robust structure generally, espe- 

 cially as regards the shorter and more slender abdomen, which in 

 the $ is not thickened at the end ; (2) the less density of their hairy 

 clothing, especially on the head, palpi, and thorax ; (3) their shorter 

 and more slender antennee ; (4) the rise of the second subcostal nervule 

 of their fore- wings far beyond, instead of before or just about, the 

 extremity of the discoidal cell; (5) the constantly swollen base of the 

 costal nervure of their fore-wings ; and (6) the greater width (and in 

 the fore-wings less length) of their discoidal cells. 



The Pseudonymphcc known are butterflies of small or moderate size, 

 very much resembling some of the species oi Erebia. Unlike the latter, 

 however, they are all of one pattern of colouring and marking. This 

 consists of a ground of paler or darker dull-brown, with a larger or 

 smaller discal patch of fulvous in the fore-wings and usually in the 

 hind-wings. Except in rare instances of aberrant individuals, the fore- 

 wings bear only a single bipupillate ocellus not far from the apex, 

 while the hind- wings (in some cases devoid' of markings) usually pre- 

 sent two submarginal unipupillate ocelli. The underside is generally 

 mottled or freckled, and paler than the upper side ; the fore- wings are 

 of the same pattern as above, but often with a larger field of fulvous ; 

 while the hind-wings bear from two to six submarginal ocelli, and two 

 transverse streaks (often enclosing a darker or paler space) rather before 

 middle, as well as often a third streak beyond the ocelli. Of this 

 pattern the transverse streaks and the ocelli on the under side of the 

 hind-wings vary most in the different species, both characters being 

 almost obsolete in P. Hypcrbius and P. irrorata. The eleven species 

 recognised by me as inhabiting South- Africa seem, with the exception 

 of P. Natalii (Boisd.), which extends beyond the Southern Tropic, to 

 be peculiar to that region, but a twelfth species, closely allied to P. 

 Natalii, occurs in Southern Tropical Africa, so that the genus may 

 perhaps have a wider range than has hitherto been assigned to it. The 

 species most generally distributed in South- Africa are P. Casswis (Godt.), 

 P. Sahacus (Trim.), and P. vigilans (Trim.), but the first-named seems 

 nowhere so abundant as the others. P. Narycia, Wlgm., and P. Neita, 

 Wlgrn., are widely spread in Eastern South Africa, but cannot be 

 termed common ; and the remaining species appear to be very local 

 and scarce. As the country becomes better explored, especially in its 



