LYCAENESTHES. By Dr. C. Aurivillius. 
443 
L. otacilia Trim. (= dulcis Pag.) resembles millari, but above it differs by the dark marginal band otacilia. 
of the hindwing being broader and enclosing a white submarginal line; under surface darker, greyish brown, 
only between the discal spots and the submarginal line whitish. $ above light brownish, with or without a 
bluish reflection at the base. From Cape Colony to Uganda. — kikuyu B.-Bak. deviates by the blue colour kikuyu. 
above being more extensive, so that the forewing only shows a black marginal band of 2 to 3 mm width. 
British East Africa, near Kikuyu. 
L. suquaia Pag., according to Bethune-Baker who examined the badly preserved typical specimen, suquala. 
is closely allied to otacilia. The species is described by the author, as follows: ,,Size of amarah\ aii the wings 
above with a deep dark brown reflection with a blackish margin and white fringes; the hindwing exhibits a 
black eye-spot proximally bordered with yellowish-red. Both wings beneath grey; the forewing shows four 
dark brown stripes of spots surrounded with whitish, the hindwing the same and at the costal margin with two 
black dots and between the upper and median small tail with a black spot proximally surrounded with orange 
and clistally exhibiting small silvery light scales; a similar small spot is situate at the posterior small tail; before 
the grey, distally darker fringes a blackish marginal band.“ Whosoever has been occupied with species of 
Lycaenesthes, will at once find that this description is insufficient for the determination of the species, since 
it fits just as well to several species. As there is not even a statement whether the hindwing beneath 
has a basal spot in the discal cell or not, I do not know whether the species has to be placed near otacilia or 
liocles. Abyssinia: Suquala. 
L. minima Trim. (71 f) is a small species different from all the allied forms by both wings above being minima. 
uni-coloured dark brown without any blue; spots beneath not darker than the ground-colour, rather indistinct ; 
hindwing with 3 or 4 black basal dots. The $ on the hindwing above shows a white submarginal line, but 
otherwise it scarcely differs from the $. Expanse of wings: about 22 mm. Natal to Rhodesia. 
L. gemmifera Neave (72 b) differs from all the other species of Lycaenesthes by the hindwing showing gemmifera. 
also at the ends of the veins 4 and 5 short hair-tufts and on the under surface 4 equally large black marginal 
spots scaled greenish and encircled by reddish-yellow (in the areas 2 to 5). Wings above uni-coloured blackish- 
brown, somewhat bronze-coloured. Wings beneath dark brown with blackish markings bordered with white 
and arranged as is usual in this group of species. Bethune-Baker places the species to his genus Neurelli'pes. 
Rhodesia. 
S. smithi Mab. (71 g). $. Wings above uni-coloured light bluish-violet with a coppery lustre and a smithi. 
fine dark marginal line; under surface rather light brownish-grey with central and discal spots bordered with 
white, all of which are not or but slightly darker than the ground-colour and angular; hindwing with a basal 
dot filled up with blue (or black) in area 7, and black, green-scaled marginal dots in (lb), 1 c and 2; the two 
latter or at least that in 2 proximally bordered by a hemochrome spot. In the $ the wings above are blackish- 
brown; forewing with an indistinctly defined, violet bluish anal-marginal spot reaching to vein 4, but covering 
only a part of the cell; hindwing at the base scaled bluish and at the margin violettish-blue with a dark sub¬ 
marginal line and a black spot in area 2. Madagascar. 
L. bihe B.-Bak. (71 g). <$. Wings above dark violettish blue with a black costal margin and marginal bihe .' 
band of the forewing and a black marginal spot proximally bordered with reddish-yellow in area 2 (and 1 b) of 
the hindwing; costal margin of hindwing as far as vein 7 black; under surface rather light grey, with darker, 
very distinct discal spots bordered with whitish, all of which are angular and arranged in a sharply broken 
transverse row; hindwing with a basal dot filled up with red in area 7 and a black one in la, marginal dots 
almost as above. $ unknown. Angola. 
L. liodes Hew. has frequently been mistaken for other species. Butler, who examined the typical liodes. 
specimen from Gabun, lays stress upon the following differences from definita Btlr. (71 e) (= liodes Trim.)-. 
,,ground-colour more golden bronze than in definita and the markings beneath more brown; in the fore wing 
the discal band is divided into three almost equally broad and almost equally sized parts being contiguous 
with their angles, whereas in definita the two anterior parts are combined into a coherent band; behind the 
costal vein of the hindwing there is near the base a sharply defined black dot with a white ring; in definita 
the hindwing is without the black spots at the costal margin.“ In addition we may copy He wit son’s description: 
L- Wings above dark violettish-blue with a narrow dark brown marginal band and white fringes; hindwing 
with two or three black dots distally bordered with bluish white near the anal angle; under surface greyish- 
white; both wings with a spot at the cell-encl, and somewhat behind the middle with a discal band composed 
of spots and two submarginal bands, all of which are light greyish-brown ,"'■hindwing with a black dot at the 
base and at the anal angle with two black dots proximally bordered with orange and dusted with some 
silvery scales. Sierra Leone to Angola (and Nyassaland ?). 
L. nigropunctata B.-Bak. (71 g) is very closely allied to L. liodes and chiefly only differs by the much nigropunc- 
clarker slate-coloured under surface and the upper surface being of a bright violettish-blue as far as the margin. ^ a ' 
