MIMETIC ASSOCIATIONS 



37 



says (Proc. Ent. Soc, 1906) that ' Dr. Longstaff found a slight snuffy scent in the male of 

 Acraea encedon (Linn.), and an evanescent disagreeable odour, not very strong, in the female 

 when crushed.' The yellow juice of this species is said by Marshall to be slightly bitter, 

 but not very markedly so. During the visit of Drs. Dixey and Longstaff to South Africa 

 in 1905, A. encedon was several times observed. At Durban two examples were taken, and 

 they remarked that it was ' so successful in its mimicry of L. chrysippus as at first to make 

 one of us believe it to be that species.' On another occasion a small female of chrysippus 

 was mistaken for encedon. At Congella, three miles to the west of Durban, three examples 

 were taken, and the authors remark that it ' is a feeble insect, with slow flight, but it again 

 succeeded in passing itself off (momentarily) as chrysippus.' 



The larva and pupa have been figured by Lieut.-Col. J. M. Fawcett (Trans. Zool. Soc, 

 1900), and are described as follows: — 



' Larva. Slaty black with a yellow lateral hne above prolegs and claspers. On each 

 segment three deep black, fine transverse Hues enclosing two white patches dorsally and two 

 yellow patches laterally. On the centre black Hne of each segment are placed six black spines 

 (branched). Head, thoracic legs, and claspers, black. 



' Pupa. Waxy white, with the usual fine black lines on the wing covers, and black 

 spots with orange centres on the abdominal segments.' 



The larva feeds on a species of Commelina, a common weed in gardens at Maritzburg. 

 This author describes the butterfly as one of the commonest in Durban. The insect has 

 an exceedingly wide range, and may be said to be distributed over the greater part 

 of Africa. 



MIMACRAEA MARSHALL!. 



Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc, p. 13, pi. i, f. 9 (1898). 

 Aurivillius, Rhop. Aeth., p. 266 (iSgS). 

 var. dohertyi. 



Rothschild (species), Nov. Zool., viii, p. 215, pi. ix, f. 3 (1901). 



Plate III, Figs. 6, 7. 



The genus Mimacraea was founded by Butler in 1872, giving M. darwinia as the type. 

 .The genus belongs to the family Lycaenidae, and all the species so far known have a more 

 or less Acraeine appearance, in many cases so perfect as to be extremely deceptive. M. mar- 

 shalli is a very beautiful insect, bearing a strong resemblance when on the wing to a small 

 specimen of chrysippus or to ^ . encedon. The species was discovered by Marshall in Mashona- 

 land, and he gives the following interesting account of its capture in a letter to Professor 

 Poulton in 1897 : ' Whilst strolling along the narrow belt of thick bush which there fringes 

 the river (Mazoe Valley), I saw flying leisurely in front of me what I took to be a very small 

 and brightly coloured Limnas chrysippus. I coveted it, and a few seconds later it was in 

 my net, through the folds of which I could but indistinctly see it, so that I was still deceived. 

 But no sooner had my finger and thumb met across its thorax than my heart beat high with 

 that keen excitement that every ardent entomologist feels when he has found some un- 

 expected treasure, for I knew I had got a new mimic of chrysippus.' 



Such an account is specially interesting as coming from one familiar with the habits 

 of butterflies in their native haunts, and the fact that the collector was himself deceived by 

 the appearance of this Lycaenid when on the wing, shows the value of its colouring as 

 a protective disguise. M. marshalli presents some points which favour a closer resemblance, 

 especially on the underside, to Acraea encedon than to D. chrysippus, though in the bright 



