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Show 1891.] FROM SOUTH-WESTERN AFRICA. 63 Subfamily ACR^EIN^E. Genus ACRCEA, Fabr. 4. A C R C E A ATOLMIS, Westw. (Plate VIII. figs. 1 <S, 2, 3 $, 4 d1.) c?. Acraa atolmis, Westw., App. Oates' ' Matabele-land, &c.' p. 343, pi. F. ff. 3, 4 (1881). Var. $ . Acrcea acontias, Westw. 1. c. p. 345, pi. F. ff. 7, 8. Omrora (1st to 25th August, and [var. acontias~] November), Ehanda (26th August to 30th September), Otiembora (20th November to 2nd December [var. acontias^), and Okavango River (December [var. acontiasj). The male figured and described by Prof. Westwood was evidently not only faded (the fate of all red Acrcece within a few months after death) but discoloured. The twenty male examples collected by Mr. Eriksson, exhibited, on 16th July, 1888 (from ten to eleven months after capture), an upperside of uniform vivid vermilion-red with a very slight rosy surface-gloss; while on the underside the greater part of the fore wing and the basal internervular marks of the hind wing were of a soft rose-pink, and the internervular rays in the outer part of both wings were reddish orange (as shown in Westwood's figure of the underside of the female Acontias). Judging from m y experience of other red Acrcece, the living A. atolmis must be of extreme brilliancy of colour, seeing how exceptionally rich and intense the red remains in specimens nearly a year old. The spots on the upperside of the male present considerable variation in size and development: in the fore wing, the spot nearest the posterior angle varies much in size, and in three examples is obsolescent, and in four other specimens there is a small additional subbasal spot below median nervure, while two of the last-mentioned four, and two other examples, also display a more or less distinct inner-marginal spot (as usual in the var. acontias) beyond the middle; in the hind wing both the subbasal and median series of small spots exhibit every gradation from full development and number (4 and 6 respectively) to fragmentary indication by two or three scarcely perceptible dots. On the underside this variation is not so great, the basal and subbasal spots of the hind wing especially being pretty constant. The female, of which 10 examples were taken by Mr. Eriksson, agrees with the most strongly-marked males in all the black spots, but exhibits an entirely opposite constancy in those markings; only one of the two occasional additional spots (that on inner margin of fore wing) occurring in one specimen. The colouring is, however, not only very different from that of the male but also highly variable, from dull reddish ochreous to almost ashy brownish grey, the intermediate examples being dull ochreous-brown with a rufous tinge. In the fore wing, the apical area is duller and also marked by indistinct internervular dull ochreous rays, while on the inner edge (immediately beyond the four or five upper spots of the discal series) there is an oblique ill-defined bar of paler ground-colour, which becomes more expressed in the darker examples, until in the |
