OCR Text |
Show 1897.] BUTTKRFLJ.ES OF T H E GENUS TERACOLUS. 7 seems restricted to the northern half of the Transvaall; but the west it has a more extensive range, occurring from the Orange River to Ovampoland. In the summer form the underside of hind wings is pure yellowish, but in the dry-season form it is thickly speckled with sandy hatching. 2. TERACOLUS ERIS. Pontia. eris, Klug, Symb. Phys., Ins. pl. vi. figs. 15 & 16 (1829). Idmais fatma, Felder, Reis. Novara, Lep. p. 189, pl. xxv. fig. 3 (1865). Teracolus abyssinicus, Butler, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) xviii. p. (1876). Idmais malmuna, Kirby, Pr. Roy. Dubl. Soc. p. 46 (1880). Teracolus johnstoni, Butler, Ent. Mo. Mag. xxiii. p. 29 (1886). Teracolus opalinus, Butler, Ent. Mo. Mag. xxiii. p. 30 (1886). Teracolus agoge $ ?, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 572 (1894). This wide-ranging and variable species has received many names, none of which stem worthy of specific distinction. Idmais fatma, Feld., is founded on a very lightly marked dry-season female from Kordofan ; and a still lighter specimen was tentatively attributed to female T. agoye, Wallgr., by Butler. There are three specimens of T. abyssinicus, Butler, in the British Museum; they are clearly yellow females of T. eris, the type being rather more heavily marked than usual. Idmais malmuna, Kirby, is quite indistinguishable from T. eris ; and T. johnstoni, Butl., is only the ordinary South-African dry-season form of the species. The type of T. opalinus, Butl., is an unusually large female from Delagoa Bay, in which the upper white spots in apical black patch are almost obsolete, but it is certainly nothing but T. eris. This species ranges practically throughout Africa, with the exception of the extreme S.W. and N.W., and even extends into Arabia. 3. TERACOLUS COLIAGENES. Euchloe coliagenes, Butler, Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) xx. p. 216 (1867). The single type in the British Museum is a yellow female from the White Nile, which seems to link T. eris to the T.fausta group. 4. TERACOLUS AGOYE. Anthopsyche agoye, Wallengren, K. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl.; Lep. Rhop. Caf. p. 15 (1857). Anthocharis eosphorus, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc. (3) i. p. 523 (1863). This species seems to occur only in the strip of country lying between 20° and 26° S. lat., from Lamaraland to the Eastern Transvaal. In the latter country I found it fairly plentiful within a limited area along the Olifants River in May 1893. 1 Since writing this I have seen a male taken by Mr. R. Crawshay in Nyasaland, and a female taken by Dr. Ansorge in Uganda. |