546 
BIONOMIC NOTES 
Observations in South Africa , 1905. 
The visit of the British Association to South Africa gave me 
more extended opportunities; it gave me moreover the advantage 
of Dr. E. A. Dixey’s co-operation, which was the more valuable by 
reason of his extraordinary patience in observing and minute accu¬ 
racy in recording results. 
Eurytela hiarbas, Drury, is a Nymphaline butterfly, with a very 
Satyrine aspect and habits not unlike those of P. aegeria. It is 
common in woods round East London and Durban, affecting partial 
shade. At East London I saw it in a small wood within 100 yards 
of high-water mark. It does not seem to be attracted by flowers, 
but moves about bushes with a slow gliding flight; it may settle on 
leaves, or on the ground, the wings being commonly three-fourths 
expanded, though sometimes more fully. When thus settled the 
wings are often slowly shut in part and again opened, though I 
never saw them quite shut. On at least three several days they 
were noted to have their tails turned to the sun, but the orientation 
was imperfect, often 15°-30° out, and occasionally they settled with 
the body axis at right angles to the sun. 
Precis clelia , Cram., is a Nymphaline butterfly that is common and 
widely distributed in South Africa. The dark upper surface of the 
wing is rendered very conspicuous by white spots near the tip of the 
fore-wing and a large blue spot on the hind-wing, but the underside 
is marbled with shades of light grey and is very quiet and unob¬ 
trusive. As regards its habits I cannot do better than quote Dr. 
Dixey’s very graphic account of its behaviour as observed in the 
Old Cemetery, at Sydenham, near Durban, in the middle of 
August:— 
Common at one spot in the cemetery. It has a habit of flying 
a little way, sometimes in pursuit of another butterfly, 
making a round and returning to the same, or nearly the 
same place. It settles on the ground, or on a low plant, 
nearly always turning its back to the sun, and often closing 
its wings over its back. I saw one settle at right angles to 
the sun, casting a broad shadow ; but as there happened to 
be several objects close by casting similar shadows, it was 
not very conspicuous. Presently the same individual flew 
up and settled down again, this time on a bare piece of 
earth and with its back to the sun in the usual way. 
