50 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



ELYMNIAS PHEGEA. 



Fabricius, Ent. Syst, 3, Part I, p. 132 Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 45 (1898). 



{1793). — (var. Intermedia), 1. c. 



Donovan, Ins. Ind., pi. 31, f. i (1800). Westwood {bammakoo), Gen. D. Lep., p. 405, 



MabiUe, Hist. Mad. Lep., i, p. 80 (1887). pi. 68, f. 3 (1851). 



Plate III, Fig. 29. Plate VIII, Fig. 10. Plate VII, Fig. 9. 



I can find no very satisfactory reason for separating the forms of this butterfly into two 

 species, as has been suggested, by distinguishing phegea from bammakoo. There are certainly 

 three marked varieties, but an examination of a large series discloses numerous intermediate 

 forms. Fabricius's description includes black and white and black and ochreous forms, 

 whilst Hewitson's figure is of the ordinary Sierra Leone form, usually black and white, 

 of which I have received considerable numbers from that region. Staudinger's variety, 

 which he calls phegea, and to which Professor Aurivillius gives the name intermedia, has 

 the ground-colour of the hind-wing, and the inner-marginal patch of the fore-wing ochreous, 

 whilst the sub-apical bar is white, and to this extent the form exhibits an approach to D. chry- 

 sippus. The genus Elymnias is essentially Oriental, and its species provide some of the most 

 curious examples of mimicry in that region. It would not be too much to say that the 

 entire genus lives by deception, practically every species being modified in the direction 

 of some dominant model. The three most marked and constant varieties of E. phegea in 

 Africa appear to be — 



1. The black and white form, Plate VII, Fig. g. This form occurs throughout the 

 range of the species. In the west, as, for instance, at Sierra Leone, it is a member of the 

 group in which we find Planema epaea ? , Papilio cynorta ? , and some other black and white 

 Planema forms. The same variety occurs at Entebbe, where it is a close mimic of the eastern 

 form of Planema alcinoe. 



2. A variety in which the white marks are replaced by ochreous. This form may be said 

 to have two sub-varieties, one of which (Plate III, Fig. 29) has the sub-apical bar and the 

 inner-marginal patch confluent, and forming a continuous discal band. This arrangement 

 provides a very good resemblance to Acraea alciope on the one hand, and on the other, when 

 the ochreous colour is somewhat richer, as it frequently is, to the general appearance of many 

 of the large male Planemas. The second sub- variety has the sub-apical and inner-marginal 

 patches distinctly separated, and of a richer colour, giving it a very marked resemblance to 

 the widely distributed Planema tellus. 



3. The third variety, occurring at Entebbe, is perhaps the most interesting, and is 

 shown at Plate VIII, Fig. 10. Here the white of the fore- wings has become the 

 beautiful orange ochre of Planema poggei, 3. modification which we should certainly 

 expect to occur in the event of so adaptative a species as phegea coming in contact with 

 that model. 



It is a curious fact that in spite of the apparent adaptability of the species of Elymnias 

 to the general colour patterns of dominant forms, they almost always retain their character- 

 istic shape, and their mimicry is always of a nature which may be described as a sketch of the 

 model. Many of the Oriental species, whilst unmistakably mimicking species of Danais 

 and Euploea, have all the markings suffused in outline, and this, combined with the serrated 

 margin of the wings, gives them the appearance of tattered and worn examples of their 

 respective models. It would be interesting to discover whether a tattered appearance is in 

 itself any protection, as suggesting to enemies an insect which has been tried by others and 

 found unpleasant. The sexes of E. phegea do not differ in pattern. 



