[ 291 ] 



VII. Notes on the Transformations of some South-African Lepidoptera. 

 By Lieut. -Colonel J. Malcolm Fawcett K 



Received October 17, 1899, read February 6, 1900. 



[Plates XLVI.-XLIX.] 



lHE following paper is the result of a collection and observations made during a 

 residence of a year at Ladysmith and Pietermaritzburg, Natal, during which particular 

 attention was paid to the habits and early stages of the Lepidoptera of the district. 



Contents. 



I. Remarks on the Climatic and Natural Conditions of Natal : 

 II. Observations on the Rhopalocera : p. 292. 



III. Observations on the Heterocera : p. 302. 



IV. Explanation of the Plates : p. 319. 



291. 



I. — Remarks on the Climatic and Natural Conditions of Natal. 



The climate may be described in short as one marked by extreme and rapid changes 

 of temperature, except in what is known as the " Coast Belt." On the higher 

 plateaux, about 8000 feet, a change of wind from west to east has, in the experience 

 of the writer, caused a sudden drop of 22° of the thermometer in one hour ; while in 

 the colder months (June to September) the range between day- and night-temperatures 

 is frequently as much as 70°. Such rigorous conditions, taken in conjunction with the 

 want of covert, may account for the extremely poor butterfly-fauna of the higher levels. 

 The rainy season, here coincident with the hotter months, usually begins in November 

 and lasts till the middle of March, and is characterized by exceptionally severe 

 thunderstorms and heavy sea-fogs and rains from the south-east ; during the remainder 

 of the year the weather is dry, the days being warm and the nights very cold. 



Natal may be divided, for the purpose of these Notes, into three well-defined regions 

 or zones, as the country rises in successive plateaux inland : — 



1. The Coast Belt or Zone, from sea-level up to 1000 feet elevation. (Tropical 



Zone.) 



2. The Middle Zone, from 1000 to 5000 feet elevation. (Subtropical Zone.) 



3. The High Levels ; 5000 feet elevation and over. (Temperate Zone.) 



1 Communicated by R. Triuen, F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



vol. xv. — part vi. No. 1. — April, 1901. 2 t 



