694 ON LEPIDOPTERA. PKOM THE ARUSA GALLA COUNTRY. [June 1, 



observations. Teracolus hewflini of Felder was based upon dry- 

 season examples of a species of which the wet and intermediate 

 phases were not recognized. In his recent paper on the synonymy 

 of Teracolus Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall reduced T. lieuglini, T. nouna, 

 and the whole of the T. antigone group of Teraculus to synonyms 

 of T. evagore, totally misunderstanding their seasonal relationships. 



In a recent paper on Lepidoptera from Arabia and Somali-land 

 (P. Z. S. 1896, p. 247), Capt. Nurse speaking of T. yerhuryi 

 observes : — "From all the pupae emerged typical T. yerharyi, 

 except from one which produced T. nouna^ much to my surprise. 

 I did not notice that one of the larvae was different from the others, 

 so that the larva of T. nouna must closely resemble that described 

 above." 



In dry countries like Aden and Karachi the seasonal phases of 

 Teracolus are undoubtedly produced simultaneously as mere varia- 

 tions, if produced at all : in the case of Teracolus phisadia the 

 male is'always a wet-season phase and the female always dry-season ; 

 in the nearly allied T. puellaris botfi dry and wet phases of the 

 male occur, but only dry of the female ; whereas in the species 

 nearest to the latter (T. vestalis) dry and wet forms of both sexes 

 are abundant, but all flying together. Indeed one of Col. Swinhoe's 

 chief objections to Capt. Watson's decision as to the dry and wet 

 forms of Teracolus was based upon the fact that at Karachi he 

 took all the so-called ' seasonal forms ' flying together thrt)ughout the 

 year. That this is not the case where the seasons are well defined 

 has been amply proved, but it appears to be unquestionably true 

 of very hot and dry countries where there is next to no rainfall. 



A careful examination of the T. daira group of T'eracolus has 

 convinced me that the following are the seasonal forms or phases 

 of the three most nearly allied species : — 



Wet-season. Intermediate. Dry-senson. 



1. T. daira, T. odysseus. T. nouna. 



2. T.jachsoni. T. thruppi. T. heuglini. 



3. T. yerburyi. T. swinJioei? T. evagore. 



It will, however, be necessary to note that the dry- season forms, 

 being much alike iu these three species, owing to the simple 

 character of their markings, have hitherto been confounded in 

 papers upon the Lepidoptera of Aden and Somali-land. Also 

 T. swinhoei is practically a wet-season form with yellow ground- 

 tint, this alone entithng it to be called intermediate ; it does not 

 nearly approach T. evagore (=saa'eus), which is the form bred from 

 a larva of T. yerburyi by Capt. Nurse. 



Other species of interest in Mr. Gillett's collection are : — 



A somewhat rubbed male of Teracolus ludovicice, a very distinct 

 species related to T. 2^uniceus and T. hefcera (of both of which 

 species I have examined series of both dry- and wet-season forms, 

 and which therefore are certainly not synonymous). 



Both sexes of Teracolus casta and the female of its wet-season 



