46 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



The larva and pupa are thus described by Professor Aurivilhus : (1. c.) 



' The larva is pale (yellowish ?) with narrow dark transverse lateral streaks. The 

 head, legs, and spines are black. The lower lateral spines, however, are only black at the 

 ends. The spines are decidedly longer than the body diameter, and arise from brownish 

 tubercles. The pupa has the usual black markings of Acraeine pupae. The spots of the 

 abdomen have pale centres, and the two dorsal rows converge forward, and there join in 

 a black spot on the first segment. In the pale centres of the dorsal spots of segments 2-5 (6) 

 are small pointed tubercles, which are largest at 2, and become gradually smaller posteriorly.' 



MIMACRAEA FULVARIA. 



Aurivillius, Ent. Nachr., xxi, p. 381 (1895). 



— Rhop. Aeth., p. 266, pi. 6, f. 6 (1898). , 



Plate III, Fig. 18, (?), Fig. 20, 



This very distinct Mimacraea is figured by Professor Aurivillius in his work on the African 

 Butterflies, and as I was unable to obtain an example from which to make a drawing, he 

 very kindly allowed me to make a copy of the figure in his work. Fig. 18 is drawn from 

 an example in the Hope Department at Oxford. At first sight I took the latter form to be 

 a distinct species, but on reference to the National Collection I found a similar specimen 

 referred to the present species. Very little is known of this aberrant Lycaenid. There can 

 be little doubt that the female mimics the male Acraea alciope, the female of which is itself 

 involved in complicated mimetic associations with forms of Planema. Whether the 

 insect shown at Fig. 18 is actually the male of M. fulvaria or not, the wonderful development 

 of the Planemoid pattern on the underside is a most convincing instance of Lycaenid mimicry. 

 I have illustrated at Fig. 17 a male example of Planema macaria, Fabr., from Sierra Leone, 

 whence also the Mimacraea was received, in order to show the resemblance of the under- 

 side patterns. On the upperside the coloration may be said to be of a generally Planemoid 

 appearance, and is somewhat intermediate between that of Fig. 19 and Fig. 17. The female 

 M. fulvaria was received from Ubangi River in the Congo State, and is in a private Con- 

 tinental collection. 



A. SOTIKENSIS AND M. POULTONI. 

 ACRAEA SOTIKENSIS. 



E. M. Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1891, p. 634, Oberthiir, Etud. d'Ent., xvii, p. 23 (1893). 



pi. 48, f. I (1892). Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 105 (1898). 



Plate III, Fig. 21. 



This common Acraea occurs in large numbers in British East Africa. Mr. Neave has 

 also taken it in North-East Rhodesia and in the upper reaches of the Congo. The males 

 and females do not greatly differ in appearance, but in examining a long series the amount 

 of red suffusion in the cell of the fore-wing is found to vary somewhat, as does also the depth 

 of tone of the red colour. In one or two specimens there is also a distinct row of pale hind- 

 marginal internervular spots in the hind-wing. In one example I have seen the discal band 

 in the hind-wing is pale yellow, like the fore-wing sub-apical bar, being only slightly dusted 

 with reddish towards the costa. This variety is of some interest, since it is apparently copied 

 by a corresponding variety oi Mimacraea poultoni. In the figure on Plate III the basal patch 

 of the hind-wing and the inner-marginal patch of the fore-wing are scarcely as dark as in the 

 majority of specimens, and the sub-apical bar of the fore- wing is of a somewhat brighter yellow. 



