40 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



yeUow, the margin bearing seven sulphur yellow spots surrounded with black. The base 

 rose pink. In the female the upperside is brownish and lacks the beautiful rose tint of the 

 male. The markings are similar, but more suffused and dusted with black. The white 

 bar is larger, extending across the space between the second and third median. The under- 

 side is as in the male, but all the colours are duller. The body is black above and ringed 

 and spotted with white. Pale ochreous below. 



This butterfly is described as being very like Mimacraea marshalli when on the wing 

 owing to its rosy tint. It forms an interesting addition to the mimetic group which surrounds 

 D. chrysipptts. At present it is extremely rare, only four males and three females having 

 been taken. 



ACRAEA WIGGINSI. 



Neave, Novit. Zool., vol. xi, p. 326 (1904). 

 Neave, Trans. Ent. Soc, p. 215 (1906). 



Plate III, Fig. 4. 



Two females of this species were taken by Dr. Wiggins, one in the Tiriki Hills and 

 one at Kisumu in 1903. Though the pattern of the wings is somewhat indefinite there can 

 be no doubt that the insect is developing the characteristic features of the chrysippus group. 

 The male which is in the Rothschild collection at Tring does not differ appreciably from 

 the female in appearance. 



COOKSONIA TRIMENI. 



Druce, Trans. Ent. Soc, p. 256, pi. xiii, f. 3 (1905). 



Plate III, Fig. 8. 



The genus Cooksonia was founded by Druce in 1905 on the single female he then figured 

 and described, which was taken in North-East Rhodesia in 1903, and I am indebted to that 

 author's kindness for the opportunity of figuring the species in the present work. As will 

 be seen, this insect bears the same chrysippus-like appearance which is exhibited by Mima- 

 craea marshalli, though the underside has a distinctly Acraeine appearance. The white 

 bar does not appear on that surface, but is replaced by a dusky apical area, and the hind- 

 wing is bordered by three sinuous lines of black, and bears in the basal area several black 

 spots of a distinctly Acraeine pattern. If the insect, as seems probable, habitually settles 

 with the fore-wings dropped within the secondaries, the resemblance to an Acraea must be 

 very perfect. The species adds another and very remarkable instance to the many known 

 cases of Lycaenid mimicry in the African region. 



DIESTOGYNA IRIS. 



Aurivillius, Arkiv Zool., i, 1903. 



Plate II, Figs. 14, 15. 



Whilst many species of this genus, especially in the females, exhibit a tendency to 

 a chrysippus-like pattern, this species has developed the typical golden colour and the 

 black and white apical bar to an extent which brings it decidedly within the chrysippus 

 association, and Mr. Neave, who took a long series of both sexes, tells me that the female 

 is very like its model when on the wing. He also states that it does not occur in forest, 

 like most of its allies, but usually settles on the ground with expanded wings showing its 



