D 



I 



16 MK.TRIMIN ON MIMETIC ANALOGIES AMONG AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



rflii's would enable us to distinguish several local races, if not distinct species ; but, 

 nth tb scanty information at hand, the attempt to do so would prove of little value. 



An already mentioned, - rtain varieties of this abundant Acrcea (which is known to 

 n l, hit rra I on-, Ashnnti, Old Calabar, the Gaboon, and Congo) are the objects of 



imitation bj nineties of Panopea Hirce, ? , received from Congo and Old Calabar. The 

 particular varieties of [\\<> Acraa Hint are so imitated are known to inhabit the same 



localiti - as the mimickers. 



Another imitator is the scarce Eurytelide, Melanitis Phegea, Eab. This butterfly, 

 like otliers of it- imily, i- marked on the underside of the wings with numerous short 



transverse lines; and it is interesting to observe how, at the base of the hind wings, 



vera] of these lines are confluent! y grouped, in manifest imitation of the spots which 



•ccupy the same position in the Ac rant. The fulvous-marked examples of M. Phegea, 

 of which I have seen two, appear to be males; but the variety of Euryta which they 

 most closely resemble is a female, figured by Mr. Hewitson (loc.cit. f. 30), in which the 



nlvous bar of the fore wings is rather narrow and with an ochreous tinge, and the inner 



mar in coloured with fulvous. The white-banded females of the Melanitis copy the ? 



tcrcea figured on the same plate (f. 31), which has the band of the fore wings rather 



broader than usual, and that of the hind wings, with the inner margin of the fore wings, 



~, „.„_ ~— ^ ^vw. oi ,_. VJL v^v, ..v^v, .. — 



sli ghtly tinged with yellow. M. Phegca has been brought from Old Calabar and Ashanti, 

 a well as from other West- African regions not specially recorded. 



& Ack.f.a Ac; \mce, Hewits. (Tab. XLII. fig. 2.) 



Trimen 



Ibis Acrma is closely related to A. Euryta, Linn., differing chiefly in the smaller 



<e and distinct eoloration of the male, which has the pale bands yellowish, or yel- 



owish white, instead of fulvous. It is only known to occur in the South of Africa, 



inhabiting Kaffraria proper and Natal, and is accompanied in the latter district by a 



mimicking P, wpea, which is nearly allied to P. Lucretia, Cram., and which I have 



r< tly described, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, as P. 



Tarquinia. I ment ionod {Joe. cit.) the fact of this Nymphalide flying in the same woods 



with Acr<£o Aganice, and have noted its rarity*, and how completely in general appearance 



and habits it resembles its model. When, however, the insects' are closely compared, 



the mimicry is not so striking, as the Panopea possesses an additional small whitish bar 



the apex of the fore wings; but this is a subordinate feature, not noticeable when 



butterfly is on the win 



-< 



Ac ilea Lycoa, Godt 



Meth 



A range of some extent is recorded for this Acrcea, viz. Sierra Leone, Ashanti, Calabar 



Since th p«per referred to was written, I have seen two other examples of Tarquinia 



lection— one from 



Hewit 



with in Natal 



former of these has much yellower bands than those 



