NYMPHALIK^. 



245 



blue pupil and red lunule, — the fourth aud fifth blackish only (rarely 

 red-centred), very small, or sometimes altogether obsolete, — the sixth 

 large, very distinct, containing a violet-blue pupilled red centre in a 

 conspicuous yellow ring ; beyond these, also between nervules, a row of 

 thin, blackish, lunulate marks, from costa to anal angle, strongest in 

 $, the thickest lunule being at anal angle, and in some specimens 

 broadly suffused with blackish internally ; the thin, grey line of fore- 

 iving continued obliquely across this wing to inner margin, a little 

 before anal angle ; a blackish streak bordering hind-margin, which is 

 also thinly irrorated with blackish atoms. Under side. — Paler , glisten- 

 ing somewhat irridescent, but without the rich lustre of upper side; 

 blackish markings reduced to very thin lines and dots; thin line crossing 

 both wings distinct and black. Fore-icing : two pale, slightly pinkish, 

 thinly black-edged, rather broad, transverse stripes, from costa before 

 middle to just above submedian nervure, where the outer Hack edging 

 of the stripe nearest middle meets the thin black line from costa, 

 forming a spot, while its inner edging forms a similar spot with the 

 outer black edging of the stripe nearer base ; on the inner side of the 

 thin transverse line, a minute irroration of black atoms, and bordering 

 it externally is a whitish, pink-tinged stripe ; spot near apex in the 

 same positioii as on upjjcr side, but pale-yelloir, with a violet-pupilled 

 red centre, and in a thin black ring ; spot above first median nervule 

 also of these colours, and conspicuous, but spot below that nervule 

 small and not clearly marked ; hind-marginal row of spots represented 

 by a very thin, wavy, often interrupted line ; a slight, 2^«^ '^'brownish 

 tinge on hind-marginal edge. Hind-wing : marked very similarly to 

 fore-wing ; only one indistinct pale band before middle, not defined on its 

 inner side ; a rather large elongate whitish spot in discoidal cell near 

 its extremity; blackish irrorations, bordering inner edge of black 

 transverse line, more thickly sprinkled than in fore-icimj ; only two 

 ocellated spots visible, more conspicuous than those in fore-wing, but 

 of the same colours, situated respectively between second subcostal 

 and discoidal nervules, and between first and second median nervules. 



Mr. H. Draco {Proc. Zool. Soc. Land., 1875, p. 409) [observes that Mr. 

 Monteiro's specimens from Angola were " smaller than those from JSTatal, with 

 a much deeper pink gloss." 



This large and splendidly-coloured butterfly has a wide range across Tropical 

 Africa, and seems to find its southern limit in Natal. At D'Urban, in that 

 Colony, it is a common species in the summer months, and, during my stay from 

 January to April 1867, 1 observed and captured many examples. The flowers 

 of Laiitana were its favourite resort in the Botanic Garden, and it was not 

 unusual to see six or eight on a single bush. I often noticed one perched on 

 the leaves of trees at some height from the ground, keeping its head outward 

 and its wings erect, and occasionally I found a female at rest on the under 

 surface of a leaf with her wings hanging downward. Among scattered bushes 

 or in roads about wooded spots Anacardii is fond of sporting at about eight 

 or ten feet from the ground, floating about with fully expanded wings ; and 

 it is then that the full beauty of its glittering wings is most apparent. On 



