OCR Text |
Show 80 MR. R. TRIMEN ON BUTTERFLIES FROM [Jan. 16, the mistake as regards motozi by stating that the male differs scarcely at all from the female except in being darker on the upper-side, and having smaller and more separate yellow markings on the underside. 159. PTERYGOSPIDEA GALENUS (Fabr.). Hesperia galenus, Fabr. Ent. Syst. iii. 1, p. 350. n. 332 (1793); Latr. Encycl. Metb. ix. p. 773. n. 124 (1823). Plesioneura galenus, Staud. Exot. Schmett. i. t. 100 (1888)l. Three examples from Christmas Pass, captured respectively on 15th, 17th, and 27th February. They are rather larger than the West-African specimens that I have seen, expanding 1 in. 6| to 71 lin., and the discocellular fulvous-yellow spot on the upperside of the hind wings is absent in two of the specimens and only just indicated in the third ; on the underside this spot is faintly marked, and the other yellow spots (apart from the large discal hind-marginal patch) are also very much reduced and in two examples obsolescent. On both surfaces the large fulvous-yellow patch of the hind wings differs in each specimen both as to shape and size. 1 have found this species recorded from numerous localities along the West Coast, from Assinie (in about 5° N . lat., and 3° W . long.) as far to the south as Angola; but Mr. Selous's captures give the first instance known to m e of its occurrence in East Africa-unless Shoa in Abyssinia be one (see C. Oberthiir, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, xv. p. 733, 1883). Mr. Selous describes the Butterfly as scarce; he found it settling on low bushes in shady places and so alert as to be caught with difficulty. 160. PTERYGOSPIDEA FLESUS (Fabr.)2. Papilio fiesus, Fabr. " Sp. Ins. ii. p. 135. n. 621" (1781); Ent. Syst. iii. 1, p. 328. n. 286 (1793). Papilio ophion, Drury, 111. Nat. Hist. iii. pi. xvii. figs. 1, 2 (1782). The eight examples from Christmas Pass and one of the two examples from the Mineni Valley are remarkable for the complete and unvarying development of the entire discal series of black or brownish-black spots on the underside of the hind wings,-a series so variable in Natal specimens that it is by no means uncommon 1 Pardaleodes fulgens, Mabille (Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1877, p. 236), from the detailed description given, does not seem to be separable from Pt. galenus. 2 In S.-Afr. Butt. iii. p. 365, I explained how from M. Mabille's description (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5) vi. p. 272. n. 21, 1876) I was disposed to consider that Tagiades insularis, Mab., from Madagascar, was probably not separable as a species from P. flesus. Having since been favoured by M. Mabille with two males of his T. insular is, I have, however, come to the conclusion that the Malagasy Butterfly may be held distinct from the Continental species, as besides the smaller size and the straighter hind margin of the hind wings (which M. Mabille points out in vol. i. p. 354 of the Lepidoptera in Grandi-dier's ' Madagascar, &c.'), I find that on the underside of the hind wings there is a very much broader and complete hind-marginal brown border from the radial nervule as far as the submedian nervure. |