170 Reviews, [Jan,, 



A short introduction contains a summary description of the habits 

 and transformations of butterflies in general, with so much of their 

 structure and anatomy as, taken in connection with the single plate at 

 the end of the part, may serve to render intelligible the characteristic 

 distinctions of the genera and species given in the body of the work. 

 The description of each species includes the name with a list of syno- 

 nyms ; a detailed account of the characters of the male and female, 

 larva, pupa, and varieties ; followed in many instances by a very read- 

 able and pleasant notice of the peculiar habits of the insect, its mode 

 of life and geographical distribution ; concluding with a reference to 

 the various localities in South Africa where it has been taken. 



Of the fifteen families of butterflies, ten only are represented in 

 South Africa. The first family, Papilionidaa, of which about four 

 hundred species have been described, " is very widely distributed 

 throughout the greater part of the world, and contains some of the 

 largest and most splendid butterflies known." "Only eleven species 

 have hitherto been captured in South Africa." In Britain we have a 

 single species, the well-known swallow-tail butterfly, P. Machaon. 

 The beauty of the Papilionidae attracts the notice even of the unculti- 

 vated savage. " The natives of Darnley Island are accustomed to 

 capture 0. Poseidon, and securing it by one end of a long thread, 

 they fasten the other end of the thread to their hair, allowing the 

 insect to flutter round their heads." 



The species of the second family, Pieridae, familiarly known as 

 the " Whites," are numerous in South Africa. Mr. Trimen's remarks 

 on this group remind the British collector of the habits of our native 

 " Whites." The Pieridae are perhaps of all butterflies most inclined 

 to be gregarious, and sometimes appear in almost incredible numbers. 

 The writer once encountered in a valley in the South of Palestine a 

 flight of butterflies, apparently P. Cratasgi, which for a quarter of 

 a mile resembled flakes of falling snow, the air above and on all 

 sides being literally filled with them. 



The South African Danaidae comprise four species only, cha- 

 racterized by ochreous and white markings on a ground of velvety 

 brown or black. Of D. Echeria, the author says : — ■" The flight of 

 this handsome insect is more graceful and floating than that of any 

 other South African butterfly I have seen on the wing. At the 

 Knysna, where it was common in the woods, it was one of the earliest 

 on the wing of the forest butterflies, and very pleasant it was to stand 

 quietly in some dewy open, and watch Echeria take her gentle flight 

 through the cool air. On a warm still day this species will keep at 

 a considerable elevation, floating across an open spot, flapping its 

 wings twice (,r thrice, and then quietly pitching on some projecting 

 twig, remain motionless, generally with the wings closed, and hang- 

 ing downwards. On a windy day they fly lower and settle more 

 frequently, when they are usually not difficult to capture." 



The family Acraaidas is essentially an African one. Thirty-five of 

 the forty-sis species enumerated by Mr. Doubleday, in the ' Genera 

 of Diurnal Lepidoptera,' being found in Africa and its islands. Of 

 the remaining eleven, two are Asiatic, eight American, and one 



