This butterfly, according to Mr. Smeathman, delights to sport in the sunshine, and is frequently found in company with Pieris Calypso about cultivated spots, as old rice plantations and cassava grounds.
NYMPHALIS OPIS.
Plate [XVIII]. fig. 5, 6.
Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Diurna. Family: Nymphalidæ, Sw.
Genus. Nymphalis, Latr. God. Papilio (Nymphalis), Linn.
Nymphalis Opis. Alis supra fuscis, fasciâ communi caracteribusque ochraceis; anticis strigâ punctorum alborum. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 6 lin.)
Syn. Papilio (Nymph. Phal.) Opis. Drury, App. vol. 2. Cramer, pl. 138. fig. A. B. Encyl. Méth. ix. p. 381. No. 104. (Nymphalis O.)
Habitat: Sierra Leone.
Upper Side. Antennæ brown. Head, thorax, and abdomen brown. Wings dark brown, or chocolate colour, formed into divisions by lines of a yellowish colour crossing and intersecting them in various directions. A yellow bar rises on the anterior wings, near the middle, and crossing them and the posterior, meets at the extremity of the body. Close to where the bar rises on the anterior wings are six very small white spots, placed between the nerves, reaching to the anterior edges.
Under Side. Palpi, breast, and sides greyish brown. Anterior wings greyish, clouded with red brown, particularly at the tips; on the middle of the external edges is a patch of yellow, and on the middle of the posterior edges is a patch of a pale clay colour, with six small white spots. Posterior wings having a third part, next the shoulders, greyish and dark brown; the remainder pale clay, with a reddish brown patch next the upper corners; from whence runs an undulated brown line to the abdominal edges at the extremity of the body, and another fainter along the external edges. The wings are dentated.