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SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 
P. Trimenii is the Southern representative of P. Boisduvalii, Doubl., from 
West Africa. The black spots are in size, number, and arrangement the same 
in both forms, but the hind-marginal border of the hind-wing is broader and 
the spots it contains are smaller in Trimenii. It is in the colouring, however, 
that a striking difference exists, Boisduvalii having in the fore-wing only a 
basal and inner-marginal reddish suffusion, and wanting altogether the con- 
spicuous yellow-ochreous subapical bar, — the ^ , however, having in its place a 
faint Avhite mark, while the red of the hind-wing is duller and paler without 
a carmine tinge. The variety of Trimenii above described approximates to 
the West- African form in wanting the yellow bar of the fore-wing, and in 
having the spots of the hind-marginal border of the hind- wing larger; but in 
other respects, and especially in the deep red ground-colour of both wings, is 
quite like the Southern form.^ 
This extremely handsome butterfly was first brought to my notice in a 
collection sent from Natal by the late Mr. M. J. M'Ken, who from time to time 
met with individual examples near D'Urban, and forwarded altogether five 
males (one of the Variety A.) and two females. During my visit to ISTatal in 
1867, I specially watched for this species, but only saw one (a $ ) in the 
Botanic Garden, on the 25th March. This example was on the wing, and 
floated overhead in the full sunlight of mid-day — ^just out of reach of my net ! 
Colonel Bowker wrote to me that during the first eighteen months of his stay 
at Natal, 1878-79, he saw but four ^^Boisduvcdii,^^ all of which he captured. 
Besides two of these D'Urban specimens, both s, he has forwarded a (J of the 
Variety A. from the Umkomazi (February 1883), a 9 of the variety taken at 
D'Urban (on 7th April 18S4), and a very fine and perfect ordinary from 
Pinetown (May 1883). 
As pointed out in my paper on Mimetic Analogies among African Butterflies 
{Trails. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxvi. p. 517), P. Trimenii — then regarded as a local 
variety of P. Boisduvalii — closely imitates Acroia Acara, Hewits., just as Boia- 
duvalii itself is a mimicker of A. Zetes (Linn.) The mimicry is twofold, each 
sex of the Pseudacrcea copying the corresponding sex of the Acrcea, and is 
carried out on the under as well as on the upper surface of the wings, and also 
in such minutiae as the yellow palpi and the spotting of the thorax and 
abdomen. Even the variable whitish suffusion on the disc of the hind-wings 
in A. Zetes is reproduced more or less distinctly in P. Trimenii. 
A $ brought from the Zambesi by the Rev. H. Rowley, and presented to 
the Hope Museum at Oxford, did not differ from Natalian examples. 
It is remarkable that the brilliant carmine-tinged red of this beautiful 
Pseudacrcea soon fades in the cabinet to a dull brick-red, exactly as the similar 
bright reds of the Acrceoi fade. 
Localities of Pseudacrcea Trimenii. 
1. South Africa. 
E. Natal. 
a. Coast Districts. — D'Urban (if. J. M'Ken and /. H, Bowker). 
Pinetown and Umkomazi (/. H. Boivker). 
H. Delagoa Bay. — Lourengo Marques [Mrs. Monteiro). 
II. Other African Regions. 
A. South Tropical. 
a. East Coast. — Zambesi {Rev. H. Rowley). 
^ It has recently been described as a new species (P. Colvillei) by Mr. A. G. Butler, but 
it does not seem to me separable from P. Trimenii. 
