132 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



Fore-wings with cliscoidal cell short ; first discoidal nervule given 

 off before extremity of cell. Hiiul-ivings with discoidal cell short, 

 closed very obliquely by lower disco-cellular nervule, which joins third 

 median nervule at some little distance from its origin. 



Abdomen usually shorter than hind-wings, sometimes as long or 

 a little longer ; inferior corneous appendage in ^ of variable size, 

 developed largely in the Horta group. 



The other characters of the imago, and those of the larva and 

 pupa, are sufficiently described under the Sub- Family. 



Acrcva is the largest and by far the most widely-ranging genus 

 of the group, the few scattered Indian and Australian forms belong- 

 ing to it, and the outlying southern province of its African metropolis 

 yielding twenty known species. 



In pattern and coloration the numerous species of Acrcea group 

 themselves into a good many sections, and the South- African forms 

 may be arranged in that way as follows, viz. : — 



1. Wings wholly transparent — A. Eabhaice (Ward). 



2. Wings partly transparent — A. Horta (Linn.), A. Neolule,T)o\x\)\., 



A. Cerasa, Hewits. 



3. Wings red (in $ duller), with numerous black spots and black 



margins — A. Violarum, Boisd., A. Nohara, Boisd., A. Petrcca, 

 Boisd., A. Douhledcaji, Gu^r., A. Ccddarena, Hewits., A. 

 Aglaonicc, Westw. 



4. Pattern like that of No. 3, but black margins more developed, 



and some wide black suffusion about bases — -A. Stenohea, 

 Wallengr., A. Natalica, Boisd., A. Anemosa, Hewits., A. 

 Acara, Hewits., A. Barhcri, Trim. 



5 . Wings yellowish or dull-rufous, thinly black-spotted ; apex of 



fore-wing dusky, crossed in both sexes by a white bar — ■ 

 A. Encedon (Linn.) 



6. Wings ochre-yellow with many black spots. — A. RaMra, Boisd., 



A. Anacreon, Trim. 



7. Wings rufous-yellow, with yellow-spotted black borders. — A. 



Bicxtoni, Butl. 



8. Wings dark-brown with pale-yellow bands. — A. Ccibira, Hopff. 



Only five species — A. Cerasa, Violarum, Barheri, Anacreon, and 

 Buxtoni — seem to be peculiar to South Africa, and of these, Barberi 

 probably occurs within the Tropic line. Nine others, however, have 

 not hitherto been recorded from north of the Equator. 



The commonest and most generally distributed South African 

 species, and the only one which extends to the Cape peninsula, is A. 

 Horta; and next to it comes A. JRahira, which does not, however, 

 range farther to the south-west than the Caledon district. In addition 

 to these, the eastern districts of the Cape Colony yield A. Neobide, 

 Stenobea, Natalica, and Encedon ; but, with the exception of the last- 



