54 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



Natal, &c. It occurs also, however, in Angola, whence the example figured was received, 

 and in that region it takes as its model Amauris hyalites, described on p. 55, and shown 

 on Plate IV, Fig, 10.^ 



THE AMAURIS CENTRED ASSOCIATIONS 



The genus Amauris is characterized for the most part by having black and white facies, 

 though some species have the white more or less replaced by ochreous. As a large number 

 of mimetic butterflies are modified in the direction of some species of Amauris, and the 

 species themselves are, to some extent, modified by association with one another, it will 

 be well to describe the principal forms consecutively, and afterwards to deal with the mimick- 

 ing species from other genera. 



AMAURIS NIAVIUS. 



Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p, 470 (1758). Swinhoe, Journ. Linn. Soc. Zool., xxv, p. 343, 



Clerck, Icon. Ins., pi. 32, f. 2 (1764). pi. 17, f. 4 (1896). 



Fabricius {niavices), Mant. Ins., ii, p. 25 (1787). Trimen {niavius var.), Trans. Linn. Soc., xxvi, 



var. dominicanus. pp. 511, 521, pi. 42, f. 6 (1869). 



Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc,, p. 323 (1879). Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 37 (1898). 



Plate V, Fig. i, 2. 



This large and conspicuous species appears to be one of the commonest butterflies in 

 Africa, and I have received it in large numbers in almost all collections. It extends from 

 Sierra Leone to Natal. The southern form dominicanus was originally described by Trimen 

 as a form of niavius, though that author afterwards gave it specific rank under the name 

 dominicanus. Since that time the range of the butterfly has been more completely worked out, 

 and there can be little doubt that the two forms are varieties of the same species, every 

 degree of intermediate gradation being found in the neighbourhood of Lake Victoria Nyanza, 

 It has the slow sailing flight common to protected species. Natal appears to be about the 

 southern limit of its range. The dominicanus form is distinguished from the western type 

 by the much larger extent of the white areas, niavius having an especially broad black border 

 in the hind-wings. It is interesting to note that this difference is also very noticeable in the 

 mimicking species which accompany it in its different localities. 



AMAURIS OCHLEA. 



Boisduval, Voy. Deleg., ii, p. 589 (1847). 

 Trimen, Rhop. Af. Aust,, p. 85, pi. 2, f. 6 (1862). 

 Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 38 {1898). 



Plate IV, Fig. 13. 



A . ochlea is a common southern and eastern species, bearing a typical black and white 

 Amauris pattern. It extends from Natal to German and British East Africa. In the former 

 region it is variable in its occurrence, being sometimes comparatively rare. It is accom- 

 panied by several mimetic species, its closest imitator being Hypolimnas deceptor. The 

 Rev. K. St. A. Rogers describes the species as being fonder of the open country and more 

 partial to flowers than is A. niavius. 



^ Mr. Neave in his extensive paper on ' Zoological 

 Collections from Northern Rhodesia and Adjacent 

 Territories ', Lepidoptera Rhopcilocera, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1910, suggests that species of the type of Amauris 



hyalites have been the primary model of P. leonidas 

 since their translucent spots have a pale greenish 

 appearance when the insect is on the wing. 



