248 
DARWINISM 
CHAP. 
feeding-places, those of the two genera Danais and Acrsea 
were never among them. 
The two groups of the great genus Papilio (the true swallow¬ 
tailed butterflies) which have been already referred to as 
having the special characteristics of uneatable insects, have also 
their imitators in other groups: and thus, the belief in 
their inedibility—derived mainly from their style of warning 
coloration and their peculiar habits—is confirmed. In South 
America, several species of the “ vEneas ” group of these 
butterflies are mimicked by Pieridse and by day-flying moths 
of the genera Castnia and Pericopis. In the East, Papilio 
hector, P. diphilus, and P. liris, all belonging to the inedible 
group, are mimicked by the females of other species of Papilio 
belonging to very distinct groups; while in Northern India 
and China, many fine day-flying moths (Epicopeia) have ac¬ 
quired the strange forms and peculiar colours t>f some of the 
large inedible Papilios of the same regions. 
In North America, the large and handsome Danais 
archippus, with rich reddish-brown wings, is very common ; 
and it is closely imitated by Limenitis misippus, a butterfly 
allied to our “ white admiral,” but which has acquired a colour 
quite distinct from that of the great bulk of its allies. In 
the same country there is a still more interesting case. The 
beautiful dark bronzy green butterfly, Papilio philenor, is 
inedible both in larva and perfect insect, and it is mimicked 
by the equally dark Limenitis Ursula. There is also in the 
Southern and Western States a dark female form of the yellow 
Papilio turnus, which in all probability obtains protection from 
its general resemblance to P. philenor. Mr. W. H. Edwards 
has found, by extensive experiment, that both the dark and 
yellow females produce their own kinds, with very few excep¬ 
tions ; and he thinks that the dark form has the advantage in 
the more open regions and in the prairies, where insectivorous 
birds abound. But in open country the dark form would 
be quite as conspicuous as the yellow form, if not more so, 
so that the resemblance to an inedible species would be there 
more needed. 1 
The only probable case of mimicry in this country is that 
of the moth, Diaphora mendica, whose female only is white, 
1 Edwards's Butterflies of North America , second series, part vi. 
