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Show 1894.] MANICA, SOUTH-EAST AFRICA. 23 Pungwe Eiver on 1st September. In outline they resemble the dry-season race of M. leda, but have even a sharper angulation of the fore wings. The upperside inclines to a more chocolate tint of brown than that shown by M. leda, but its notable distinction lies in the great development and oblique position of the two subapical white spots, which have pale bluish edges and are surrounded by a rather vaguely defined deep fuscous space. Throughout all the variations of M. leda the corresponding white spots are small and constitute the pupils of a more or less developed compound ocellus, and the lower one is directly beneath (or even slightly before) the upper one, instead of almost wholly beyond it. On the underside of libya there is evidently (as in that of leda) great variation, Mr. Selous's two specimens differing widely from each other as well as from Mr. Distant's description of the type, both, however (but especially the Pungwe Eiver example), having a yellower general tint than I have found in M. leda. At the same time the markings in all respects, down to the minute incomplete and partly obsolescent submarginal ocelli, are in unquestionable accordance with those of M. leda (dry-season brood); and the striking divergence of the upperside of the fore wings came as a surprise when expanding Mr. Selous's specimens. The captor informed m e that both were taken in the shade, among the roots of trees, in the bottom of ravines. Mr. Distant informs m e that he has not seen any other specimens of M. libya except the type, which he recorded as inhabiting " Masasi, East Africa." I find that Masasi is placed on the maps to the north of the Eovuma Eiver, apparently about 150 miles inland from Cape Delgado and some 600 miles north of Manica. 12. MELANITIS DIVERSA (Butl.). Gnophodes diversa, Butl. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 5tb ser. v. p. 333 (1880). Melanitis diversa, Trim. S.-Afr. Butt. i. p. 116. n. 30 (1887). Three examples from the valley of the Pungwe Eiver, taken on 1st September, do not differ from typical Natalian specimens except in their smaller size, one being quite dwarfed. Subfamily ACR^EINJE. Genus ACRCEA, Fabr. 13. A C R J E A OBEIRA, Hewits. Acrcea obeira, Hewits. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1863, p. 65; Trim. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1891, p. 172 [ $ ]. A single female, taken at Christmas Pass on 22nd February, differs from the Natalian and Zululand females described by me (I. c.) in having the hind wings and basal half of fore wings pale dull ochry-yellow instead of very dull brick-red. The females of this (the horta) group of Acrcea are inclined to vary in this direction, the females of A. horta, Boisd., and A. hova, Boisd., sometimes presenting |
