BUTTERFLIES OF SAMOA AND SOME NEIGHBOURING ISLAND-GROUPS. 7 



Specific Descriptions 



1. Danaida archippus (F.). 



Danaida archippus ; Fruhstorfer, 1910, p. 193. 

 Danais archippus ; Butler, 1874, p. 275. 



Rebel, 1910, p. 416. 



Schmeltz, p. 177. 

 Danais plexippus L. ; Fraser, p. 147, 

 Anosia plexippus ; Butler, 1883, p. 408. 

 Danaida plexippus ; Walker, p. 187. 



Collenette, 1925. 

 Anosia menippe ; Waterhouse, 1904, p. 491. 



Swezey, 1921, p. 601. 

 Danais erippus ; Semper, 1905, p. 247. 



Walker, who gives an excellent summary of the known history of this 

 species in the Pacific, states (p. 187) that it was first noted in Tonga in 1863, 

 in Tutuila in 1867, and in Western Samoa not until 1869. There appear to be 

 no previous records from the Ellice Islands, but on Nui Island in September 

 1924 Buxton saw a specimen feeding on Iron-tree (Pemphis acidula), while he 

 also noticed the butterfly as well as its food-plant on Vaitupu Island ; both 

 islands are in the Ellice group. Collenette's notes on the species tend to show 

 that it is becoming much less common in some parts of the Pacific, probably on 

 account of the decrease in abundance of its food-plant, Asclepias curassavica L. 

 This may also be true in Tonga, where I found both the butterfly and its food- 

 plant by no means common, though, so far as my investigations went, generally 

 distributed ; Schmeltz (I.e. p. 70), records it from Niuafou also. In Samoa, 

 however, the insect is very abundant, occurring commonly at sea-level through- 

 out the group, and extending up into the hills wherever clearing has allowed 

 the Asclepias to become common. 



The larvae sometimes entirely defoliate the plant, and are reduced to 

 eating the stalks and seed-capsules ; thus they may be of some slight economic 

 use as a check on this obnoxious weed. The adult frequents the flowers of 

 Ageratum coryzoides L. (Compositae), Lantana camara L., Stachytarpheta indica 

 Vahl. (Verbenaceae), and its own food-plant. 



The early stages, which may be found throughout the year, are too well- 

 known to require description. 



