146 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



This species is extremely variable in the markings _of the ^ and in 

 the colouring of the $. The following is a very striking 



Aberration. — $ Fore-wing entirely dull-black ; hind-wing with black 

 border much widened, and inwardly suffused. Under side. — Fore- 

 wing : basal area tinged with dull-red to about middle, with traces of 

 a few spots. Hind-wing : hind-marginal border much suffused, so as 

 almost to obliterate both the yellowish-white spots it contains and the 

 reddish marks bounding it inwardly. 



Hab. — Pinetown, Natal (J. H. Bowker, June 1881). In the col- 

 lection of the South- African Museum. 



The Querimba specimens figured by Hopffer (loc. cit.) are smaller, paler, 

 and with mucli less pronounced dark markings, especially in the ^ , than the 

 Natalian type-form, with the single exception that the dark borders in the ,$ 

 are rather broader. Tlie ^ is thus an approach to the more northern variety 

 figured by M. Oberthiir, who must, I imagine, be mistaken in the statement 

 (op. cit.) that the sexes of this variety are " absolument semblables entre eux," 

 the white subapical bar of the fore-wing being very constant in all the ? 

 Petraa that I have seen, whatever varying tint the ground-colour might 

 present. 



There is no known South-African Acrsea that A. Petrxa closely resembles, 

 but it is not distantly related to A. Cepheiis (Linn.), a native of Angola, whicli 

 has, however, a very much broader hind-marginal dark border in the fore- 

 wings.^ A feature very distinctive of Petrxa is the loide distance in the hind- 

 icings of the traiisverse row of spots from the hind-margin, the row being strictly 

 not discal, but median. 



A. Petrcea is abundant round D'Urban, Port Natal, where I found it con- 

 stantly on the wing from the end of January to the beginning of April 1867. 

 It keeps to woods and their immediate neighbourhood ; and a company of the 

 slowly-flying, richly- coloured males in the full sunshine, conspicuous on a 

 background of intensely green foliage, is a striking sight, not easily forgotten. 



Localities of Acrma Petrcea. 



I. South Africa, 

 E. Natal 



a. Coast Districts, — D'Urban. 



h. Upper Districts. — Pietermaritzburg {Miss Colenso and JF. Hayes). 



II. Other African Regions. 

 A. South Tropical. 



a. Western Coast. — " Angola (Por/^e) and C\\vic\\o^o {FalTcenstein)." 



— Dewitz. 

 h. Eastern Coast. — "Querimba." — Hopffer. "Tchouaka {A. Raf- 

 fray)." — Oberthiir. 



^ The specimens noted as A. Cejiiheus by Mr. A. G. Butler {Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 

 Dec. 1875, p. 395), brought from Natal by Mr. Burrowes, and presented to the British 

 Museum, are unquestionably examples of A. Petrcea. 



