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II. Notes on the African Saturniidfe in the Collection of 

 the Royal Dublin Society. By W. F. KiRBY, 

 Assistant Naturalist, R.D.S. 



[Eead 7th Februaiy, 1877.] 



The SaturniidcB, altliougli a very favourite group witli 

 most Entomologists who interest themselves in moths, are 

 but little known, because they have not been systemati- 

 cally collected like the bu.tterflies, and hence specimens 

 are rarely to be obtained, except by accident. Some 

 time ago, however, the Royal Dublin Society purchased 

 a large collection of insects of all orders which had been 

 formed by a gentleman at Sierra Leone ; and has subse- 

 quently acquired other specimens from Africa, including 

 (through the kindness of Mr. D. Gr. Rutherford) some of 

 those collected by Mr. G. Thomson of Glasgow, at Cania- 

 roons. Generally speaking African SaturniidcB are only 

 to be obtained singly, and then not always in the best 

 condition. I give below a hst of the species at present 

 contained in the Dublin Collection. 



Genus BuN^A, Hiibn. 



1. B. Aslauga, n. sp., infra. Madagascar. 



This is probably the species described by Boisduval, 

 Faun. Mad. p. 88, as Alcinoe, Cram., from which the 

 different position of the ocellus of the hind wing will at 

 once distinguish it. 



2. B. Nyctaloys, Wallengr. Natal. 



This common species varies considerably in size, and 

 commonly goes under the name of Alcinoe, Cram. [StoU], 

 from which it is certainly distinct. It is, however, pos- 

 sibly a variety of B. Caffraria, StoU (t. 31, f. 2, 2 C), 

 though I am at present more inclined to consider it a 

 distinct species. It has been well figured as B. Alci^ioe 

 by Mr. Butler in his series of card illustrations of Tropical 

 Butterflies and Moths. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1877. — PART I. (APR.) 



