44 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



MIMICRY IN OTHER SPECIES OF EUPHAEDRA. 



EUPHAEDRA EUSEMOIDES. 



Smith and Kirby, Rhop. Exot., viii (Euryphene), p. i, pi. i, ff. i, 2 (1889). 

 Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 185 (1898). 



Plate III, Fig. 10. 



I received this butterfly from Sierra Leone in the same small collection which contained 

 the moth Phaegorista agaristoides, Boisd., which I have illustrated at Fig. 9. The general 

 resemblance between the two insects, though not so remarkable as that between E. ruspina 

 and A. helcita, is quite sufficient to be noteworthy when it is borne in mind that several 

 species of Euphaedra more or less approach in pattern these day-flying moths. The Eastern 

 form of Euphaedra zaddachi, named crawshayi by Butler, bears a strong resemblance to species 

 of the day-flying moths of the genus Xanthospilopteryx. Writing in 1908 to Professor Poulton, 

 Mr. Neave, who was then collecting in North-East Rhodesia, gives some very interesting 

 particulars with regard to a Euphaedra, probably allied to E. eusemoides, which he had 

 observed in that region. He says,^ 'The interesting thing about the above species of Euphaedra 

 is that it differs in its habits from its allies. It spends little or none of its time on the ground 

 as they nearly all do, but is constantly flying round trees and large shrubs — the very thing 

 its model is fond of doing. One or two of my specimens were caught by sending small boys 

 up trees after them.' Such testimony is exceedingly valuable, since it has been stated that 

 although some butterflies do resemble moths, the difference in their habits and flight is such 

 as to discount any theory as to the mimetic nature of the resemblance. 



THE A. ALCIOPE ASSOCIATION. 

 ACRAEA ALCIOPE. 



Hewitson, Exot.Butt..4craefl,pl.i,f.4,5 (1852). Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 116 (1898). 



Ward (cydonia), Ent. Mo. Mag., x, p. 59 (1873). Staudinger (aurivillii), Iris., ix, p. 209, pi. 2, 



Butler (macarina), Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 221, f. 2 (1896). 



pi. 17, f. 6 (1868). Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 117 (1898). 



Aurivillius {alciope var.), Ent. Tidskr., xiv. Smith and Kirby (P/aw^ma a/icifl), Rhop. Exot., 



p. 278, f. 6 (1893). p. 30, Acraea, pi. 8, ff. 9, 10, 11 (1901). 



— Metamorph., i.e., p. 279, pi. 5, f. 3, 3a, 3b Roth, and Jord. (subsp. schecana), Nov. Zool., 



(1893). p. 184 (1905). 



Plate III, Figs. 16. 23. Plate VIII, Fig. 4. 

 The mimetic relations of A craea alciope are exceedingly complicated. In West Africa the 

 male is apparently the model for the female of M. fulvaria, whilst the male of the latter 

 mimics a Planema. The West African female of A. alciope figured on Plate III, Fig, 23, 

 also mimics a Planema.^ This form is very variable, and it would be perhaps more correct 

 to say that it presents a Planemoid pattern rather than to assume that it definitely resembles 

 a particular model. Most of the examples which I have examined in the National Collection 

 are very like the Planema excisa of Butler. When inspecting considerable numbers of 

 A. alciope for the purpose of the present account, I was struck by the fact that the males 

 were common, and not greatly varying from as far west as Ashanti, right across to Uganda, 



1 Proc. Ent. Soc, p. Ixxx, 1908. 



2 Probably a form of Planema salvini, Bull., figured on Plate III, Fig. 19. The specimen is from Sierra Leone. 

 See Planema alcinoe, p. 78. 



