Frrrepay.—On Danais berenice. 183 
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Авт. XXXV.—Observations on the Occurrence of а Butterfly, new to New 
~ Zealand, of the Genus Danais. By R. W. Ferepay, C.M.E.S.L. 
[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd January, 1874.] 
Iw February last I had the pleasure of receiv ing from my friend, Mr. F. H. 
Meinertzhagen, of Waimarama, Hawke Bay, a large handsome butterfly of 
the genus Danais, captured by bim at Waimarama on the 31st J anuary last. 
Upon comparison the species appears to be identical with that of a New 
South Wales specimen of Danais, in the Canterbury Museum, received from 
Mr. C. French, of the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, and labelled by him 
* Danais erippus, N.S.W., supposed to have been introduced. Common 
Indian and American species." 
There is also another specimen of Danais in the Canterbury Museum, 
amongst a collection of Californian Lepidoptera, received from Mr. Edwards, 
of San Francisco, and labelled by him Danias archippus; and that and the 
New South Wales and New Zealand species are so alike, that I fail to 
distinguish any specific difference. That there is a difference between erippus 
and archippus we have the authority of Mr. Butler, who had the typical 
specimens to refer to, and has placed the species apart in the Catalogue 
(recently prepared by him) of Diurnal Lepidoptera, described by Fabricius, in 
the collection of the British Museum ; but what the difference is does not 
appear from the short descriptions of Fabricius and Cramer, quoted by him, 
and I have no other description to guide me. 
‚1 do not find, either in Mr. Butler's Catalogue, or in the Encyclopédie 
D'Histoire Naturelle par le Dr. Chenu (the only authorities at hand to refer 
to) any mention of erippus occurring in America, and perhaps Mr. French 
may have been led to note its being common in America from having 
compared a specimen of the New South Wales species with a Californian 
specimen, similar to that in the Canterbury Museum, and failed, as I have, to 
discover any difference between them. 
Assuming that the New South Wales and American specimens are distinct 
species, I prefer to treat the New Zealand species as identical with that of 
New South Wales, and adopt the specific name of berenice instead of erippus— 
the Fabrician specific name erippus having given place to that of berenice, 
Cramer. (See Butler’s Cat. Diur. Lep., p. 4.) 
From Dr. Hector I have also received a specimen of this butterfly, taken 
last summer at Hokitika, where he saw it in great abundance ; and, since the 
capture of the first, Mr. Meinertzhagen has taken several more specimens at 
Waimarama, and to him I am indebted for the pains he has taken in obtaining 
for me much valuable information respecting the insect. 
