298 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



P. Trimenii is the Southern representative of P. Boisduvalii, Doubl., from 

 West Africa. The black spots are in size, number, and arrangement the same 

 in both forms, but the hind-marginal border of the hind-wing is broader and 

 the spots it contains are smaller in Trimenii. It is in the colouring, however, 

 that a striking difference exists, Boisduvalii having in the fore-wing only a 

 basal and inner-marginal reddish suffusion, and wanting altogether the con- 

 spicuous yellow-ochreous subapical bar, — the 5 j however, having in its place a 

 faint white mark, while the red of the hind-wing is duller and paler without 

 a carmine tinge. The variety of Trimenii above described approximates to 

 the West-African form in wanting the yellow bar of the fore-wing, and in 

 having the spots of the hind-marginal border of the hind-wing larger; but in 

 other respects, and especially in the deep red ground-colour of both wings, is 

 quite like the Southern form.^ 



This extremely handsome butterfly was first brought to my notice in a 

 collection sent from Natal by the late Mr. M. J. M'lven, who from time to time 

 met with individual examples near D'Urban, and forwarded altogether five 

 males (one of the Variety A.) and two females. During my visit to Natal in 

 1867, I specially watched for this species, but only saw one (a $ ) in the 

 Botanic Garden, on the 25th March, This example was on the wing, and 

 floated overhead in the full sunlight of mid-day — ^just out of reach of my net ! 

 Colonel Bowker wrote to me that during the first eighteen months of his stay 

 at Natal, 1S78-79, he saw but four '^Boisduvalii," all of which he captured. 

 Besides two of tliese D'Urban specimens, both (J s, he has forwarded a, ^ oi the 

 Variety A. from the Umkomazi (February 1883), a $ of the variety taken at 

 D'Urban (on 7th April 1884), and a very fine and perfect ordinary ,$ from 

 Pinetown (May 1883). 



As pointed out in my paper on Mimetic Analogies among African Butterflies 

 (Trans. Linn. Soc. Loud., xxvi. p. 517), P. Trimenii — then regarded as a local 

 variety of P. Boisduvalii — closely imitates Acrcca Acara, Hewits., just as Bois- 

 duvalii itself is a mimicker of A. Zetes (Linn.) The mimicry is twofold, each 

 sex of the Pseudacrcea copying the corresponding sex of the Acrcea, and is 

 carried out on the under as well as on the upper surface of the Avings, and also 

 in such minutiae as the yellow palpi and the spotting of the thorax and 

 abdomen. Even the variable whitish suffusion on the disc of the hind-wings 

 in A. Zetes is reproduced more or less distinctly in P. Trimenii. 



A $ brought from the Zambesi by the Rev. H. Rowley, and presented to 

 the Hope Museum at Oxford, did not differ from Natalian examples. 



It is remarkable that the brilliant carmine-tinged red of this beautiful 

 Pseudacrcea soon fades in the cabinet to a dull brick-red, exactly as the similar 

 bright reds of the Acrcece fade. 



Localities of Fsciidacrarc Trimenii. 



I. South Africa. 



E. Natal. 



a. Coast Districts. — D'Urban {M. J. M'Ken and /. H. Bowker). 

 Pinetown and Umkomazi (/, H. Boivker). 

 H. Delagoa Bay. — Lourenfo Marques [Mrs. Monteiro). 



II. Other African Regions. 



A. South Tropical. 



a. East Coast. — Zambesi {Rev. H. Rowley). 



1 It has recently been described as a new species {P. Colvillei) by Mr. A. G. Butler, but 

 it does not seem to me separable from P. Trimenii. 



