| OCR Text |
Show 1896.] FROM NYASA-LAND. 117 Var. dirccea : Henga, W . of Lake Nyasa, Feb. 1st, 1895. "Rose and black white-tailed Fritillary " (R. ft). This form varies, not only in the width of the black apical patch of primaries, the position of the second spot of the central transverse series, the width of the black border of the secondaries with its more or less defined submarginal spots, but, curiously enough, the terminal two-fifths of the abdomen may be either ochreous or snow-white. As in the variety axina ( $ , nero) the submarginal spots of the primaries are wanting. The specimen now received bears a strong general resemblance to A. natalica. In his paper, published in the 'Proceedings' for 1891, M r. Trimen lays stress upon the absence of the submarginal spots as a good character for the discrimination of A. axina from A. doubledayi: I am sure that his earlier decision was the correct one, and that this character cannot be relied upon; in A. ccecilia, var. stenobcea (2 =Ugus = albomaculala) the submarginal spots are sometimes present, sometimes absentl. 37. ACRiEA NATALICA. Acrcea natalica, Boisduval, Voy. de Deleg. p. 590 (1847). 3 2 i Foot of Jakwa Mt., Henga-Nkamanga, W . of Lake Nyasa, Jan. 28th and 29th; 3, Mtambwi, foot of Nyika plateau, Feb. 4th, 1895. 3 , " Rose and black Fritillary " ; ? , " Dusky Fritillary " (R. ft). With our present extensive series it is impossible to keep A. pseudegina distinct from A. natalica, of which it is only the Western phase, the two extremes are completely linked by intergrades. 38. ACR^A CALDARENA. Acrcea caldarena, Hewitson, Ent. Month. Mag. xiv. p. 52 (1877). 3 2 , taken in coitu, Kondowi, Lower Nyika, April 6th, 1895. I gave the correct synonymy of this species (if species it be) in the ' Proceedings' for 1893, p. 657. I, however, strongly suspect it to be merely a seasonal development of A. ccecilia, var. stenobcea, from which it chiefly differs in the broad black apical patch on the primaries. 39. ACRiEA ASEMA. Acrcea asema, Hewitson, Ent. Month. Mag. xiv. p. 52 (1877); Trimen, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 24, pi. iv. figs. 3, 3 a. Acrcea empusa, Butler, P. Z. S. 1893, p. 656. Acrcea omrora, Trimen, P. Z. S. 1894, p. 24, footnote. 2 , Lumpi R., Lower Nyika, Feb. 2nd, 1895. " Small speckled Fritillary " (R. ft). 1 M y identification of A. stenobcea with a S.-African niale^ of A. ligus was confirmed by Prof. Aurivillius during his recent visit (Aug. 1895). |
