38 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



golden colour of the wings it resembles the paler coloured form of the latter. It is described 

 as essentially a woodland, but not a forest insect. When undisturbed it flies slowly like 

 D. chrysippus, but when alarmed it flies with considerable speed and dodges with great 

 dexterity, sometimes flying right over the tops of the trees. It has a habit of settling on 

 the far side of a tree, making it difficult to follow, and owing to the fact that the upper wings 

 are depressed within the lower ones, thus hiding the white patch, it becomes when at rest 

 exceedingly inconspicuous, Marshall originally described it as settling on the tree trunk 

 head downwards, but this is not invariably the Mr. Neave on one of his African 



expeditions succeeded in photographing the insect at rest on a tree trunk. In this picture 

 the butterfly is certainly in the ordinary position. M. marshalli remains a rare insect. 

 Marshall took some fifteen examples, and about twenty specimens were secured by Mr. Neave 

 in the Upper Congo. Perhaps about five other examples are known. 



The form dohertyi figured on Plate III, Fig. 7, was first described by Rothschild, and 

 was captured by Doherty in British East Africa. It is interesting as showing a development 

 analogous to the dorippus variety of D. chrysippus and the daira form of A. encedon. 

 The form is so rare that little appears to be known of its habits, though on general 

 grounds the supposition that it has been developed under the influence of daira is 

 irresistible. The formerly existing white sub-apical bar can be distinctly traced near the 

 costa of the fore- wing. 



In the cabinet and when viewed separately it might be supposed that M. marshalli 

 and A. encedon, owing to their small size, would not present very good imitations of D. chry- 

 sippus. Mr. Neave, however, has shown me a very remarkable group captured in the 

 Lualaba Valley on the Upper Congo. Amongst a large number of D. chrysippus there are 

 also eight examples of Mimacraea marshalli, fourteen of Pseudacraea poggei, and five oiAcraea 

 encedon. The general effect of the group as seen together is that they are all alike, and 

 when they are arranged in haphazard manner there is a distinct sense of effort in counting the 

 respective numbers of the different species. I know no instance which could illustrate 

 more forcibly the reality of the resemblance. 



Another Mimacraea recently described by Druce and named skoptoles (Trans. Ent. 

 Soc, 1907, p. 78) bears a strong superficial resemblance to marshalli, though it is differently 

 marked on the underside. 



ARGYNNIS HYPERBIUS. 



Linnaeus, Cent. Ins., p. 25 (1763). Godart (o^ tephnia), Enc. Meth., ix, p. 262 



Linnaeus {niphe), Syst. Nat., ed. 12, p. 785 (1819). 



(1767). Moore (Metamorph.), Lep. Ceylon, i, pi. 31, 



Drury, 111. Exot. Ins., i, p. 12, pi. 6, f. i (1773). f- 2 b (1881). 



Linnaeus(o^flfgyrms),Iter. Chin., p. 10(1768). Aurivillius (Synonymy), Rhop. Aeth., p. 127 



Drury (a^ argynnis), 111. Exot. Ins., i, p. 12, (1898). 

 pi. 6, f. 2 (1773). 



Plate II, Fig. 13, ?. 



This butterfly abounds in the Oriental region, but in Africa it only occurs in Abyssinia. 

 The figure on Plate II is from an Asiatic specimen, but I do not think the Abyssinian form 

 varies greatly from this in appearance. As in many other cases, only the female exhibits 

 mimetic tendencies, the male being without the black and white apex, and presenting the 

 ordinary aspect which characterizes the genus Argynnis. 



In describing the allied form Argynnis inconstans, which occurs in Australia, Butler 



