189].] FROM SOUTH-WESTERN AFRICA. 73 



14. ACR^A RAHIRA, Boisd. 



Acrcea rahira, Boisd. Faune Ent. de Madag. etc. p. 33, pi. 5. 

 ff. 4, .5 (1833); Mabille, in Grandid. Hist. Nat. etc. Madag., Lep. 

 i. p. 11 0, and ii. pi. 1 1 . ff. 9, 1 [ $ ] (1885-87). 



Ehanda (September), Otiernbora (November), and Okav^ngo 

 River (December). Four male and two female specimens. 



The males are all much paler than the typical more southern 

 examples, especially the two from Ehanda, which are pale ochre- 

 yellow without any rufous tint except near the hind margins on the 

 upperside ; and all four possess on the upperside of the fore wings a 

 narrow almost whitish space immediately beyond the subapical 

 transverse series of black spots. In one of the Ehanda males the 

 black spots generally are well developed ; but in the other, and in 

 two from the Okavango, they are much smaller than usual ; in the 

 first-named example the inner discocellular spot of the fore wings is 

 sharply crescentic instead of roughly ovate. On the underside all 

 the males show the black markings smaller and fainter, especially 

 the transverse streak on the lower disk of the hind wings. 



The two females are also considerably paler than the more 

 southern ones, but their spots are not smaller. The yellower of 

 the two has a black streak between the terminal discocellular spot 

 and the third spot of the macular subapical bar '. I have noted 

 (South-African Butterflies, i. p. 167) a Kaffrarian female in which 

 the same character occurs, accompanied by other aberrant markings 

 in the fore wings'. 



The doubt expressed by the original describer of this species as 

 to its actual occurrence in Madagascar has not yet been satis- 

 factorily disposed of. Mabille {loc. cit.) observes that collections 

 received from Madagascar •' ne la contiennent presque jamais," but 

 that it has been taken '" dans ces derniers temps " near Tama- 

 tave and in the north-east of the island. He gives, however, no 

 authority for either habitat, nor is any authenticated locality stated 

 for the two assumed Madagascar examples in his own possession, or 

 for those noted as having been seen in Aarious collections. In South 

 Africa A. rahira is a singularly abundant species (even among its 

 gregarious congeners) wherever it occurs, and is also one of the 

 slowest and most low-flying, and if it really inhabits Madagascar its 

 great rarity there is rather difficult to account for. The female 

 figured by Mabille is in tint and markings nearer to Mr. Eriksson's 

 examples than to those inhabiting the Cape, Natal, and Trans- 

 vaal. 



' Vide supra, p. 72, for an exactly corresponding marking in a male 

 Acraci stenohea. 



^ A far more aberrant female example was taken bj llr. F. C. Selous on the 

 Shashani Hiver in Matabele-land in 1882. All the black spots on both sur- 

 faces are in this specimen greatly enlarged and e\(mg!itedi,h\it especially those of 

 the hind vnngs (which are normally as small), the basal ones more particularly 

 being immensely larger and confluent. 



