Finished 1914, published 3.11. 1919. LIBYTHEA. By Dr. 0 . AuiUVlLLIUS. 
293 
7. Family: Erycinidae. 
According to what has been said in Vol. I, p. 251, we have, in order to avoid inconsistencies with the 
former part of the work, adhered to the mode of division in Vol. I, although according to the author’s view 
the Libytheids are entitled to be considered a separate family and the name of Erycinidae has to give way to 
that of Lemoniidae. In joining both groups into one family, the older name of ,.Libytheidae“ would, strictly 
speaking, have to be considered as common to both. As to the group in other faunae, comp. Vol. V, p. 517—22, 
and Vol. IX, p. 767. 
A. Subfamily: Libytheini. 
The Libytheini are the smallest family of the day-butterflies and comprise only one single genus which 
however, is represented in all parts of the world. 
In common with the Danaids, Satyrids, Nymphalids and Acraeids, they have the stunted and unarmed 
forelegs of the d', but they deviate by fully developed forelegs of the They are somewhat shorter than the 
middle and hind legs, but they have normally shaped feet with two terminal claws. From the Lemoniicls, which 
have similarly shaped forelegs, the Libytheids differ by the straightly porrect, very long palpi. They are several 
times as long as the head and, apart from the rest, suffice to distinguish a form belonging hereto from nearly 
all the other day-butterflies. Egg elliptical, bottle-shaped, twice as long as broad, ribbed with longitudinal 
stripes. Larvae slender, unarmed, finely haired, almost cylindrical, with a small, round head. Pupa short, like 
the Nymphalid pupae freely suspended on the anal end. 
1. Genus: Ubythea F. 
The margin of the forewing is angularly extended at the end of vein 5 and behind it more or less deeply 
incised. The vein 6 rises from the same place as the footstalk of veins 7 to 9; vein 7 terminates into the margin; 
veins 10 and 11 rise separately from the costal margin of the cell. The veins 3 and 4 of the hindwing from 
the same place (posterior angle of the discocellular); the precostal vein is distally turned round and rises 
from the very place where the vein 8 leaves the discocellular. 
The Ethiopian species belong to a special subgenus, Dichora Scudd., distinguished by the following 
marks: 
Antennae with a distinctly defined slender club. Palpi shorter than half the antennae. Hindwing 
with a uniformly curved (not lobated) costal margin and a short tail at the end of vein 2; the margin undulate. 
The light markings above are almost the same in all the Ethiopian species and consist of a longitudinal 
streak on the forewing and a spot in the discocellular and of 5 or 6 discal spots in 1 b, 2 to 6 and on the hindwing 
of 6 discal spots in 2—7, of which those of the areas 2 to 5 are arranged in a straight transverse line. 
Review of t h e Species. 
I. The forewing with a distinct discal spot in 1 b. All the markings above, except the white discal dots in 
4 to 6, grey or yellowish-grey and indistinctly defined. L. labdaca. 
II. The forewing without a discal spot in 1 b. 
a. The discal dots in 4 to 6 of the forewing white; the other spots above small or indistinct, grey or 
yellowish-grey. L. ancoata. 
(3. The markings above sharply defined, yellow or reddish-yellow; the spots of the areas 4 to 6 of the forewing 
however, often white. 
*. The discocellular of the forewing with a reddish-yellow longitudinal streak, which reaches the apex 
of the cell or is there accompanied by a spot. The spots in 4 to 6 of the forewing white or whitish. 
L. laius. 
**. The discocellular of the forewing without a longitudinal streak, only with a transverse streak or 
spot at the apex; the spots of the areas 4 to 6 yellowish. L. cinyras. 
L. labdaca Ww. (61 a) is recognizable by the grey markings above; the longitudinal streak in the labdcu 
discocellular of the forewing is often little distinct; on the forewing beneath the spots are more distinctly 
prominent, and the apex is covered with a violettish grey as far as the spots in 4 to 6; the hindwing beneath 
is usually violettish-grey, watered with brown and whitish, with the spots above distinctly prominent and 
white; the posterior longitudinal half of the cell and the basal part of the areas 1 c and 2 are usually darker 
than the other area; sometimes the hindwings are beneath almost monotonously brownish-grey without 
any light spots. It occurs in the whole of West Africa from Sierra Leone to Congo and Uganda and is said 
also to have been observed in Brit. East Africa near Kikuyu. 
