28 AIR. S. A. XEAVE OX BUTTERFLIES [Jan. 18, 



Subfam. Nymph alin.e. 

 Lachxoptera iole Fabr. 



This species occurred sparingly in patches of dense forest in the 

 western portion of the basin of the Lualaba, but I did not observe 

 it elsewhere. It is not unlike A. phalantha Drury on the wing, 

 but is distinguishable by its larger size and clearer coloration. 



Atella phalantha Drury. 



I found this insect ubiquitous and at all seasons. It seems to 

 frequent all sorts of country except the most dense forest, to 

 the outskirts of which it is, however, especially partial. It has a 

 swift and active flight and is not too easy to capture on the wing, 

 but is much addicted to quenching its thirst on damp mud. As 

 my friend Mr. Guy Marshall * has already recorded, I once saw a 

 little Bee-eater, Melittophagus meridioncdis, capture and eat what 

 I believe to have been one of these insects or possibly its mimic, 

 Pseudargynnis hegemone. 



Atella columbina Oram. 



Upper Lualaba river, lO.v.07. Lofu river, Lake Tanganyika, 

 17.vii.08. 



Not taken elsewhere. It may, however, on occasions have been 

 mistaken for the preceding species. 



Brenthis excelsior katang^;, subsp. n. (Plate II. fig. 3, J .) 



Closely allied to B. excelsior Butler, but differs from all speci- 

 mens of that species I have seen in the following particulars : — 



Upperside. Ground-colour a less deep orange, all black markings, 

 especially the marginal ones, very much less heavy. 



Underside. Black markings also smaller. The very pale ochreous 

 area of tip of primary and greater part of secondary in the type is 

 much darker in colour and is largely concealed by a reddish- 

 chocolate wash. In excelsior this chocolate wash is confined to 

 the hind wing, and comprises a small patch within the cell and 

 two. in the discai area of which the largest is that lying near the 

 anal " angle. In excelsior katangce the reddish-chocolate wash 

 occurs as a marginal patch in the apex of the primary, and prac- 

 tically covers the whole of the secondary, with the exception of a 

 streak running from the middle of the costal margin past the end 

 of the cell down area 5 to the outer margin, and a patch in middle 

 of the hind margin. 



Length of wing 19 mm., as compared w T ith 20 in typical 

 excelsior. 



Type o" in the British Museum ; captured at the Belgian Post 

 of Msofi, a few miles over the border, and some 16 miles north 

 from Kansanshi, in N.W. Rhodesia, 30.i.07. The only specimen 

 I ever met with. 



# Trans. Ent. Soc. 1909, p. 359. 



