P. alcinoe differs from the two preceding species [
macaria and
macarioides (pars) ] in having spots 1 b and 2 of the transverse band of the forewing distally rounded or cut off transversely, occasionally in the female with a narrow fissure between them; the transverse band of the forewing covers the extreme tip of the lower angle of the cell and also in the female usually the base of cellule 3; in the male the basal part of cellules 1 a and 1 b of the forewing above is brown-yellow and this colour shades into the transverse band without any dividing-line; in the female the median band of the hindwing is white and sharply defined. -
alcinoe Fldr. (=
godmani Btlr.) (57 f). The dark marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing is narrower, about 6 mm. in breadth, and less sharply defined proximally; in the male the cell of the forewing is entirely or for the most part yellow-brown. Sierra Leone to Gold Coast. -
camerunica Auriv. (=
salvini Btlr.) (58 e, f) has the dark marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing in both sexes broader, 9-11mm. in breadth, and more sharply defined proximally; in the male the cell of the fore wing above is entirely or for the most part black. - Larva unicolorous dark red with black spines and black head. Pupa light-coloured with black markings and on the upperside of the abdomen on each segment from 2–5 with a pair of very long, slender, black spines with yellow-red base and the tips curved into hooks; those of the second segment are longer than the rest and directed forwards, those of the fifth segment the shortest; the head with two divaricating horns. Sjostedt bred this form in numbers in the Cameroons and thus the identity of the sexes at least here has been definitely established; the specimens show only quite unimportant variations inter se. Niger to the southern Congo region. ==Subspecies==