ACE.^IN^. 133 



named species, they seem to be rather scarce. Two or three others 

 have been brought from KafFraria Proper, but it is not until Natal is 

 reached that the genus is riclily represented ; nine more species, mostly 

 very numerous in individuals, inhabiting tliat region. Zululand and 

 Delagoa Bay are equally rich, the latter being, moreover, the only 

 known South-African locality for the remarkable A. Bahbaice ; and the 

 Eastern Transvaal contains a good many species. A. Galdarcna, Aglao- 

 nice, Anemosa, and probably Barleri, are characteristic of the Tropical 

 interior country, and only just enter South Africa proper. 



34. (1.) Acraea Rabbaise, Ward. 



Acrcea Rabbaice, "Ward, Ent. M. Mag., x. p. 152 (1873). 



„ „ Oberthiir, Etudes d'Ent., iii. p. 25, pi. ii. f. i (1878). 



Exp. al., 2 in. 1-9 lin. 



Transparent, almost colourless, with a few fuscous markings ; neura- 

 tion strongly defined, dark brown. Fore-iving : base narrowly suffused 

 with fuscous ; near base, between median and submedian nervures, a 

 more or less conspicuous fuscous spot, variable in size and shape ; 

 rather before than beyond middle, a very irregular transverse sub- 

 macular fuscous stripe, from costal to submedian nervure ; the upper 

 part of this marking is broadest and occupies the outer extremity 

 of discoidal cell, — it is immediately preceded by a small (usually con- 

 tiguous) costal spot above the cell ; apical and hind-marginal border 

 very faintly tinged with brownish, crossed by some just perceptible 

 very pale-yellowish inter-nervular rays. Hind-wing : not so trans- 

 parent as fore- wing, thinly covered with white scales, unspotted ; base 

 narrowly suffused with fuscous ; a broad more or less even hind- 

 marginal fuscous border, containing six or seven semi-transparent 

 sagittate spots faintly tinged with ochreous-yellow ; of these spots, the 

 first (next apex) is much the smallest and sometimes almost obsolete, 

 — and the first and seventh (and occasionally also the second) are some- 

 times joined to the ground-colour of the wing. Under side — Glossy, 

 almost scale-less ; markings the same as on upper side, but fainter 

 (except the fuscous markings of fore-wing, which are quite as dark). 



Palpi and thoracic spots pale creamy-yellow ; abdominal spots 

 (more or less confluent posteriorly) creamy-whitish. 



M. Oberthiir (pp. cit., p. 25) notes that the hind-wings are white 

 or yellow, and that the transverse band of the fore-wings is variable in 

 development. The colouring of his figure is more ochreous than that 

 of any of the Delagoa Bay specimens which I have seen ; and the 

 transverse band of the fore-wings considerably narrower and more 

 macular. 



This beautiful Acrcea is very distinct from all the known South- African 

 species ; its almost total want of colour and extreme transparency, to^^-ether 

 with the conspicuous central black bar across the fore-wings, rendering it very 



