218 
CATACROPTERA; PRECIS. By Dr. C. Attrivillius. 
amaniensis. S. amaniensis Vosseler is unknown to me and is described as follows: “Ground-colour or the upper 
surface dark red-brown with strong red-violet reflection, which also overspreads the marginal markings of the 
wings; apical part and distal margin of the forewing occupied by a broad blue-black band, the proximal boundary 
of which extends in a curve from the middle of the costal margin to the hindmargin, terminating 2.5 mm. before 
the anal angle; near the apex there is a round spot in cellule 5, a second, smaller one at the beginning of 
cellule 7, both blue-white; middle part of the distal margin narrowly edged with blue-white, with white mar¬ 
ginal striae on the interneural folds, which are continued anteriorly; costal margin yellow-brown to the middle; 
hindwing darkening towards the distal margin, especially on the anterior half, which besides two blackish undu¬ 
late lines accompanying the entire distal margin shows 4 blurred dark dots; apex delicately bordered with 
white; anal angle produced into a lobe with a few scattered blue-white scales; ground-colour of the under 
surface chocolate-brown somewhat tinged with violet, with blackish, brown and grey-white markings; a straight 
line runs from the costal margin of the forewing near the apex to the anal angle of the hindwing; at its proxi¬ 
mal side there are three small white spots in cellules 6 and 7 of the hindwing, the first two touching one another”. 
From the description this species seems to me to be decidedly nearer to the following than to the preceding. 
German East Africa: near Amani. 
cacta. S. cacta F. (50 c) differs from the preceding species of this group in having the distal margin of the hind¬ 
wing at vein 4 short-tailed (<$) or at least distinctly angled ($). Both wings dark red-brown above, with violet 
reflection; the forewing at the proximal side of the black apical part with a broad orange-yellow band, extend¬ 
ing from the costal margin at least to vein 2; the forewing usually with two white or bluish dots before the 
apex, one in cellule 5, the other in 7 and 8; the under surface both in the ground-colour and the markings 
extremely variable —brown-grey, dark brown, greyish or yellowish. Sierra Leone to the Congo and Abyssinia. 
languida. — ab. languida Bartel is founded on a $ in which the violet reflection of the upper surface is entirely absent. 
Ruwenzori. 
5. Genus: (latacroptera Karsch. 
The sole species of this genus was formerly referred to Precis and really differs but little from this. The 
differences have been cited in the synopsis. The hindwing is distinctly tailed at the anal angle. 
The larva differs in having two long spines on the head, thickened at the end; the pupa is ventricose in 
the middle and lacks the protuberances and spines of the Precis pupae. 
C. cloanthe forms two local races, each having a rainy- and a dry-season form; the wings are orange- 
yellow above, with black base, two black transverse streaks in the cell of the forewing and one behind its 
apex, postdiscal eye-spots often pupilled with blue, and two dark marginal lines, often broken up into spots or 
cloanthe. in part indistinct; a black spot at the end of the cell of the hindwing. — cloanthe Cr. (52c; the hindwing 
is defective at the anal angle) is the South and East African race and may be known by having the marginal 
lines on the upperside of the forewing indistinct or partly broken up into spots; the eye-spots of the hind¬ 
wing are not bounded basally by a transverse line or the line is finer and incomplete; the ground-colour of the 
obscurior. under surface is yellowish, irrorated with brown. Angola to the Cape and Abyssinia, f. obscurior Stgr. is the 
ligata. dry-season form and only differs in the much darker, grey-brown or dark brown, under surface. — ligata 
Rothsch. <£■ Jord. is the north-western race and is distinguished by having the marginal lines on the upperside 
of the forewing thicker and more distinct and the eye-spots on the hindwing above bounded on both sides by 
a thick transverse line composed of lunules; the under surface with yellowish ground-colour. Sierra Leone to 
fuscaia. Togo. f. fuscata Rothsch. & Jord. is the dry-season form of ligata , distinguished by its dark under surface. 
— The larva is beneath dark brown, above oclire-yellow with broad brown transverse bands, in which the spines 
are placed; the head is red-brown with two spines on the vertex, which are soft not prickly, but thickened into 
knobs at the tip. Pupa light green with brown lines and spots and less angular than those of Precis. 
6. Genus: l*recls Hbn. 
A genus with numerous species, some of them common, and widely distributed in the tropics both of 
the Old and the New World. The species are particularly interesting on account of their often very sharply 
marked seasonal dimorphism and deserve to be closely studied in the whole region. Concerning the Indian 
Precis and their variation cf. vol. IX, p. 516—524. 
The wings are rather short and broad; the forewing is more or less emarginate at the distal margin 
and at veins 2 and 6 angled or even long-produced; the hindwing, on the other hand, is rounded or at the anal 
angle lobed or tailed and at the middle of the distal margin angled or dentate. Upperside of both wings 
nearly always with a transverse row of eye-spots or black dots beyond the middle. 
Larva almost cylindrical with short spines on the segments of the body and two prominences or short 
horns on the head; the first segment has above only small prominences, but at each side two short spines; 
