MIMETIC ASSOCIATIONS 



67 



It is necessary here to mention this species of Acraea, since it has sometimes been 

 considered to be the model of Pseudacraea boisduvali, and in its variety acara it is un- 

 doubtedly the model of the trimeni variety of that species. It is a very variable insect. 

 West coast examples of the male are not unlike A. egina, though the fore- wings are brown 

 rather than black and have little or no red marking. There is a fairly persistent but variable 

 and suffused white sub-apical bar in the fore-wings. The female is very like that of A. egina. 

 Passing eastwards the red colour gradually gains on the brown, whilst the pale sub-apical 

 bar develops into a prominent rich ochreous patch, producing the variety acara. This 

 variety frequently has a white suffusion in the discal area of the hind-wings. The male 

 example shown at Fig. 3, Plate VI, is unusually small, the majority of the specimens being 

 nearly as large as the female shown at Fig. 6. The rich ochreous apical patch is always 

 a prominent feature in the acara form. The typical A. zetes is essentially western. Variously 

 intermediate forms are found at Lake Victoria Nyanza, and acara is commonly found in 

 Natal. 



Trimen thus describes the larva and pupa of acara (S. Af. Butt. i. p. 160) : — 



' Larva. Ochreous-yellow. Each segment broadly banded transversely with purplish- 

 red, the band occupying the middle portion. Spines long and distinctly branched, blackish, 

 springing from tubercles situated in the purplish-red bands ; the two dorsal spines on seg- 

 ment next head longer than the rest, erect. Head ochreous-yellow. Legs and prolegs 

 purplish-red. Feeds on Passifiora. 



' Pupa. Pinkish- white. Margins of head, limbs, and wing-nervures defined with black. 

 Abdominal rows of spots arranged as in pupae of ^. horta and A. serena, but more continuous ; 

 the spots rose-pink in wide black contiguous rings. Median line of underside of abdomen 

 tinged with rose-pink ; two spots of the same colour on median line of back of thorax, and 

 one at base of wings. Head ochreous-yellow.' 



Professor Aurivillius has described the larva and pupa of the western zetes, and I give 

 the account here for purposes of comparison (Ent. Tidskr. p. 276. 1893) : — 



' The larva is reddish-yellow, with red shiny head, and dark transverse line on each 

 segment above the middle. The spines are quite black and arise from disk-like shiny black 

 .tubercles. The two dorsal spines of the first segment are somewhat elongated, the remainder 

 curved slightly backwards. 



' The pupa is yellowish with black wing-nervures, black marks on the head, a black 

 band on the back of the thorax, traversed by two pale longitudinal lines, and five black 

 lines, adorned with pale spots on the abdomen. The pale spots of the four posterior lines 

 are somewhat excrescent.' 



The author remarks on the similarity between this larva and that described by Trimen. 



PSEUDACRAEA BOISDUVALL 



Doubleday, An. N. H., xvi, p. 180 (1845). Butler (var. trimeni), Ent. Mo. Mag., xi, p. 57 



— Gen. Di. Lep., p. 281, pi. 37, f. 3 (1850). (1874). 



Butler (var. colvillei), An. N. H. (5), xiv, p. 123 Trimen, S. Af. Butt., i, p. 296 (1887). 



(1884). — (boisduvali var.), Trans. Linn. Soc, xxvi, 



Karsch (ab deficiens), Ent. Nachr., xxiii, p. 372 p. 517, pi. 43, ff. 8, 9 (1869). 



( 1897) . Aurivillius, Synonymy, Rhop .Aeth.,p.i75(i898). 



Plate VI, Figs. 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. 



This is one of the most beautiful of the species of Pseudacraea. The resemblance 

 of the western form to Acraea egina is a peculiar one, inasmuch as it is one of the few cases 

 in which the male is a more perfect mimic than the female. As stated under the description 



I 2 



