IX 
WARNING COLORATION AND MIMICRY 
245 
not been able to keep pace with the variations of the much 
more numerous imitated form ; another reason may be the 
ever-increasing acuteness of the enemies, which have again 
and again detected the imposture and exterminated the 
feeble race before it has had time to become further modified. 
The result of this growing acuteness of enemies has been, 
that those mimics that now survive exhibit, as Mr. Bates well 
remarks, “a palpably intentional likeness that is perfectly 
staggering,” and also “ that those features of the portrait are 
most attended to by nature which produce the most effective 
deception when the insects are seen in nature.” No one, in 
fact, can understand the perfection of the imitation who has 
not seen these species in their native wilds. So complete 
is it in general effect that in almost every box of butterflies, 
brought from tropical America by amateurs, are to be found 
some species of the mimicking Pieridse, Erycinidse, or moths, 
and the mimicked Heliconidte, placed together under the 
impression that they are the same species. Yet more ex¬ 
traordinary, it sometimes deceives the very insects themselves. 
Air. Trimen states that the male Danais chrysippus is some¬ 
times deceived by the female Diadema bolina which mimics 
that species. Dr. Fritz Muller, writing from Brazil to Professor 
Meldola, says, “ One of the most interesting of our mimick¬ 
ing butterflies is Leptalis melite. The female alone of this 
species imitates one of our common white Pieridse, which she 
copies so well that even her own male is often deceived; for 
I have repeatedly seen the male pursuing the mimicked 
species, till, after closely approaching and becoming aware of 
his error, he suddenly returned.” 1 This is evidently not a 
case of true mimicry, since the species imitated is not pro¬ 
tected ; but it may be that the less abundant Leptalis is aide 
to mingle with the female Pieridse and thus obtain partial 
immunity from attack. Mr. Kirby of the insect department 
of the British Museum informs me that there are several 
species of South American Pieridse which the female Leptalis 
melite very nearly resembles. The case, however, is interest¬ 
ing as showing that the butterflies are themselves deceived by 
a resemblance which is not so great as that of some mimicking 
species. 
1 R. Meldola in Ann. and Mag. of Mat. Hist., Feb. 1878, p. 158. 
