Bematistes epaea, the common bematistes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. Description P. epaea is distinguished by having the hindmarginal spot of the forewing narrow and of fairly uniform breadth, at the hindmargin not or scarcely broader than half the hindmargin and not filling up the base of cellule 2, while the black marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing is in the d suddenly much widened at the apex, but in the female often very broad. On the under surface of the hinclwing the basal area is brighter red-yellow than the other parts of the wing. - epaea Cr. (58 a). male- Ground-colour of the hindwing above, hindmarginal spot and subapical band of the fore wing yellow-brown; hind wing beneath in the distal part more or less suffused with brown-grey and in the middle somewhat lighter. female Subapical band and hindmarginal spot of the forewing white and also a median band on the hindwing, 7 mm. in breadth, which forms a continuation of the hindmarginal spot of the forewing; the whole distal half of the hindwing, on the other hand, black-grey on both surfaces, with black veins and streaks. Senegambia to Angola and the upper Congo. -female -ab. lutosa Suff. is a female form which differs in having the white markings of the typical female light clay-yellow and the proximal part of the dark distal half of the hindwing above broadly light brown to dark yellow-brown or olive-brown; the pure black outer part of the distal half consequently retains almost the same shape as in the male. Cameroons to the Congo. - insularis Auriv. is a race in which the male only differs from the type-form in having the subapical band of the forewing whitish yellow above and white beneath; in the female the subapical band of the forewing is pure white, but the hindmarginal spot of the forewing and the hindwing are coloured and marked quite as in the male ; the base of the hindwing beneath is light yellow instead of red- yellow. Island of Fernando Po. - melina Thur. is only known in the male; the light markings of the upper surface are dull ochre-yellow and