SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



Genus PSEUDAORiEA. 



Pseudacrcea, (" Section A. Sub-Section b, Division **," of Diadema) and 

 Panopea ("Do. do., Divn. * of Do."), Westw., Gen. Diurn. Lep., ii. p. 

 281 (1850). 



Pa7wpea, Trim., Trans. Ent, Soc, Lond., 1868, p. 79. 



Imago. — Allied to Diadema, Boisd., and Uuphcedra, Hiibn. Head 

 of moderate size, downy above, hairy in front ; palpi elongate, conver- 

 gent, densely scaly, ascendant to about level of forehead, — second joint 

 long, tufted above and along inner edge, and sometimes thinly hairy 

 beneath, — terminal joint short and blunt ; antennae long or very long, 

 ratlier thick, with the club very elongate and very gradually formed. 



Thorax long and thick, densely downy beneath, more thinly so 

 above, and moderately hairy posteriorly. Fore-wings elongate, more or 

 less produced apically, much as in Diadema ; first subcostal nervule 

 originating much more towards base, and second considerably more 

 before extremity of discoidal cell than in Diadema, and third one origi- 

 nating not so far beyond cell ; lower disco-cellular nervule stronger, 

 more arched. Hind-wings with costa, after basal convexity, very slightly 

 arched ; hind-margin more or less sinuated ; anal angle sometimes 

 decidedly prominent in $ ; neuration as in Diadema ; discoidal cell 

 rather shorter (in P. Semire (Oram.) exceedingly short) ; lower disco- 

 cellular nervule quite distinct, more or less curved, usually joining 

 median nervure where second and third nervules originate ; groove 

 formed by inner margins not so deep or complete as in Diadema. 



Abdomen very compressed laterally ; much longer than in Diadema 

 or Eiiralia. 



With the exception of the green-spotted Semire, Cram., and Zmerina, 

 Hewits. (= Glaucina, Gu^r.), and the rufous-and-black Hostilia, Drury 

 — which have the hind-wings much produced in their inferior half, and 

 constitute a section apart — all the species of this Ethiopian genus are 

 in both sexes distinctly imitative of various species of Acrceince, the $ 

 of two only (P. Tarquinia and P. Delagoce, Trim.) showing more resem- 

 blance to two species of Amauris, of the sub-family Danaince. It 

 would be diflScult to imagine more perfect mimicries than several of 

 these — e.g., that of Planema Gea (Fab.), $ and ^, by Psendac^'cea 

 Hirce (Dru.), ^ and $ ; of PL Agariice (Hewits.), $ and $, by Ps. 

 imitator, Trim., ^ and $ ; or of P. elongata, Butl., $, by Ps. meta- 

 p>lanema, Butl., $ — extending as they do not merely to colouring and 

 pattern, but to outline of wings and such minutiae as the colour of the 

 palpi and the spotting of the thorax and abdomen. Almost as per- 

 fect also are the imitations of Acrma Zetes (Linn.), ^ and $, by Ps. 

 Boisduvalii, Doubl., $ and $, and of A. Acara, Hewits., ^ and $, by 

 Ps. Trimenii, Butl., ^ and $. The exactness of these and of some other 

 mimicries among African butterflies can best be estimated by the fact 



