32 ME, GUT A. K. MARSHALL OW THE [Jail. 19, 



ginal black bars, while on the underside the pink tinge is much 

 fainter than in the full winter form, and the irroration is very 

 sparse. T. hyperidcs, from Swaziland and V. Nyanza, is a step 

 further in the development of the wet-season colouring, having the 

 black inner marginal stripe more distinct and the undei'side of 

 hind wings being white ; this, again, merges through T. hero into 

 typical T. acliine. The series of specimens included under T, sub- 

 venosus in the British Museum is an eloquent proof of the difficulty 

 experienced by Mr. Butler himself in discriminating his own 

 species, for they are in truth a "job lot." The species was 

 founded on a specimen of T. achine, which is rather liglitly marked 

 above, and has the underside of hind wings white, with the 

 neuration finely black throughout. But the present series shows 

 every development of the upperside black markings, so that some 

 specimens have a strong inner marginal band, while others have 

 none, in spite of the fact that Mr. Butler has founded species on 

 the relative development of tbis very character. The undersides 

 are equally variable, ranging from the type with black neuration 

 to a specimen in which there is no trace of black, but which is 

 exactly similar to the type on its upperside, thus showing the 

 complete inutility of black neuration as a specilic character. T. tri- 

 meni I cannot distinguish from typical T. achine. T. gavisa repre- 

 sents the fullest wet-season development of this species, in which 

 all the black markings above and below are strongly developed, 

 and it occurs in suitable localities from Abyssinia to Natal ; that is 

 to say, in a moist and wet climate T. gavisa would probably repre- 

 sent the wet-season form of the species, whereas in a drier and 

 cooler place it would be T. achine. For instance, the former is 

 prevalent in the quasi-tropical coast-belt of Natal, but as we go 

 further inland towards the plateaux both forms occur and every 

 iutergrade between them, until finally T. achine predominates. 

 T. luura, from Central East Africa, is a variation of T. gavisa, in 

 which the inner marginal black bars are very faint, or even 

 absent ; T. carteri, founded on a single female from Accra, being 

 evidently the same form, of which I have seen every gradation 

 through" T. helle to antevip-pe (Boisd.). The tendency of several 

 species of Tcracohis on approaching the equatorial belt to lose their 

 discal black markings is very curious and interesting. The only 

 noteworthy distinction in T.fumichis, Swinh., from the Transvaal, 

 is the trace of a transverse black bar on upperside of hind wings, 

 a very variable character, not unfrequently appearing more or less 

 faintly in specimens of T. achine, but never well developed. 



63. TeBACOLUS LAIS. 



Teracolus Ms, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 145 (1876). 



This is a distinct little species of the T. achine group from 

 S.W. Africa, and may be distinguished from its allies by the 

 small, very oblique, orange, apical patch, which has a distinct 

 border of black along its inner edge. I have only seen dry-season 

 specimens. 



