126 
SOUTH-AFEICAN BUTTERFLIES. 
bearing two slender tails (the longer on submedian nervure, the other 
on first median nervule), and a dentation (rarely a short third tail) on 
second median nervule ; anal angle more or less prominently lobed ; 
costal nervure not reaching apex, but first subcostal nervule terminat- 
ing there ; in ^, near base and costa (partly overlapped by inner 
margin of fore- wings), a circular polished space, large or very large, 
blackish or greyish, with a paler shining centre. 
Legs as in Myrma, but very much more slender ; the femora not 
hairy, and the first tarsal joint of the hind pair not swollen. 
Pupa. (/. Silccs, Westw.) Very thick, rounded ; the back very con- 
vex, with a slight prominence on the thorax and second abdominal 
segment ; posterior region rather suddenly narrowed ; anal extremity 
truncate and slightly expanded. Attached with silk by the tail only, 
horizontally on the under side of a leaf. 
lolaus, as characterised above, seems a tolerably distinct genus, 
distinguished from Myrina by the wide separation of the radial 
nervules of the fore-wings at their origins, in addition to its much 
more slender structure in all respects, and constant possession of more 
than one tail on each hind- wing. The curious and conspicuous sexual 
badges in the $ appear not to exist in eight Indian and Malayan 
species catalogued by Hewitson {loc. cit.)^ but are constant in the 
African species, with the exception of /. Pallene (Wallengr.) 
To the thirty-five species on record by Messrs. Hewitson and Kirby, 
I consider that Myrina Greta, Hewits., from Congo, and M. Pallene, 
Wallengr., should be added. Nearly all of these lovely butterflies are 
blue above, intense as a rule in the ^, but duller and mixed with 
whitish in the ^, with the apical part of the fore-wings black, while 
beneath they are shining-white or yellowish- white, sometimes tinged 
with grey, with one or two transverse streaks of black, crimson-red, 
ferruginous-red, or orange-ochreous, usually common to both fore and 
hind wings. 
There are eight known South- African species. The finest is /. Silas, 
which is characterised by the very deep metallic-blue upper side of the 
^, and brilliant white under side, with a single crimson and black line, 
of both sexes. The rather larger but paler L Trimeni is known only 
from the Transvaal. /. Sidus, a smaller butterfly, is of remarkable 
beauty, azure-blue above and beneath greyish-white, with two very 
pronounced crimson streaks. In /. Bowkeri both sexes are white- 
spotted on the disc of the fore- wings above ; /. Mimosce is of a rather 
dull blue, and on the under side is grey ; /. Aphnceoides has the under 
side banded with orange-ochreous edged with black ; and the aberrant 
/. Pallene is all cream-colour with a black edging, and beneath with 
two transverse black streaks. 
The perfect insects rest on the twigs and leaves of shrubs or small 
trees, quite in the manner of Thecla, taking brief but rapid flights — 
usually in chase one of another — and occasionally visiting flowers. The 
