86 



AFRICAN MIMETIC BUTTERFLIES 



in important points from that of agathina figured by Trimen. The spine on the head is quite 

 straight, sloping upwards and black anteriorly. Close behind this spine, at the margin 

 of the anterior part of the thorax, are two small processes. The thorax is carinate and 

 angulated in the middle. The first segment of the abdomen is very small, carinate, and with 

 a small process on each side. The remaining segments are very broad and flattened dorsally. 

 The second and third have on each side two long, blunt, finger-like processes, and the fourth 

 only one such projection. The second and fourth of these processes are black. Segments 

 four to eight are distinctly carinate.' 



PHRISSURA SYLVIA. 



Fabricius, Ent. Syst., p. 470 (1775). 



Moschler [a^ and ? var. rhodope), Verb. z. b. Ges. Wien., xxxiii, p. 273 {1883). 

 Aurivillms {Appias), Rhop. Aeth., p. 398 (1898). 



Plate IX, Fig. 7, 5 ; Fig. 19, c/' . 



The two sexes of P. sylvia are almost indistinguishable from those of M. spica. In fact, 

 as with most of these resemblances between species of the two genera, they can scarcely be 

 separated, except by the generic characteristics. The male specimen figured was received 

 from Sierra Leone, and the female is from Lagos. 



ERONIA THALASSINA. 



Boisduval, Spec. Gen. Lep,, i, p. 443 {1836). 



Ward (o^ verulanus), Af, Lep., p. 4, pi. 4, f. 5 {1873). 



— (5 ab. vertilanus), 1. c, ff. 6, 7. 



Aurivillius, Synonymy, Rhop. Aeth., p. 447 (1898). 



Plate IX, Fig. 8, ?. 



This butterfly is common all over Tropical Africa. The male is very different in appear- 

 ance from the female, and is a pale blue insect with a black margin in the fore-wing, very 

 narrow along the costa, broad at the apex, and becoming narrower again towards the hind- 

 angle. The female varies from white to cream colour, the fore-wings being suffused with 

 dull yellow. I have examined Ward's figure of the female {verulanus) , and it differs but little 

 from my figure on Plate IX, and principally in the presence of two sub-apical yellow spots 

 on the dark apical border of the fore-wing ; the fore-wings are also of a richer yellow colour. 

 Ward's figure of the male is coloured rather a vivid green, but the colouring is probably 

 somewhat exaggerated. The female bears a very perfect resemblance to that of M spica. 

 The male is an exceedingly beautiful insect, especially on the underside, which in the 

 hind-wings has a delicate greenish-silvery appearance. 



MYLOTHRIS ASPHODELUS. 



Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1887, p. 572 (1888). 

 Dewitz [poppea), Nov. Act. Ac. N. Cur., xli, 2, pi. 25, f. 11 (1879). 

 Snellen (phileris), Tijdschr. v. Ent., xxv, p. 227 (1882). 

 Aurivillius, Synonymy, Rhop. Aeth., p. 393 (1898). 



Plate IX, Fig. 11, 



This form is distinguished from M. spica by the pale yellow suffusion at the base 

 of the fore-wing. Aurivillius (Ent. Tidskrift, 1895, p. 259) describes the female as 

 very similar to that of M. spica, but with a more yellowish ground-colour in the 

 fore-wing, and a shorter and broader marginal band. The example figured is from the 

 Congo State. 



