A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



a few forms have found another means of preserving their species. 

 Since they have adopted the appearance of the HeHconiinae, and 

 fly only in the company of the latter, their enemies regard them as 

 nauseating mouthfuls, and leave them alone. At the same time, 

 they are rare, and this rarity is essential, for otherwise the birds 

 might gradually come to realize that not all the "aeroplane butter- 

 flies" are inedible. But in some forms the male has not yet assumed 

 the protective costume; and we can understand why this is when 

 we remember that for the preservation of the species the protection 

 of the female, who is laden with eggs, is more important. 



There are still other butterflies which have assumed the black, 

 brown and yellow costume. For example, Protogonius, which 

 belongs to the Leaf-butterflies ; but its shape, of course, does not 

 resemble that of the HeHconiinae. Phycioides, however, a relative 

 of our Mother-of-Pearl butterflies, imitates the HeHconiinae closely 

 both in shape and in colour. Even among the Blues a few species 

 seem to be on the way to resembling the protected butterflies, and 

 in the Pericopis family (Plate 29, I, 7) we actually find moths which 

 look like HeHconiinae and fly by day. The attentive observer will 

 of course recognize the insect immediately as a moth by the fine, 

 pointed antennae, for the antennae of the butterflies are club-shaped. 



When protected species are imitated by others, which by assuming 

 the same appearance enjoy the same protection, the imitation is 

 known as mimicry. Mimicry is not confined to the New World. A 

 family widely distributed through all the regions of the tropics, and 

 protected by a repulsive odour, is that of the Danaidae, handsome 

 brown and yellow butterflies, which have a superficial resemblance 

 to our Painted Ladies. There are Danaids in Brazil, and there they 

 too fly slowly, but not at all as the HeHconiinae fly ; for they hover 

 in the most curious manner, rocking to and fro without moving 

 their wings : a most enchanting sight. In America, as in India, 

 butterflies of other families have borrowed the magic mantle of 

 the Danaidae. 



Among the beetles too we find similar cases of mimicry. There 

 are beetles in South America which are so widely disseminated that 

 they actually give the fauna of many districts its peculiar character. 

 These are the Wolf-beetles (Plate 29, I, 12). These insects also 

 excrete a nauseating liquid, so that they have few enemies ; they can 

 be recognized at some distance by their wing-covers, which are 

 longitudinally fluted, and yellow with transversal black stripes; 

 they lie flat on the body, and are larger than the latter, so that 



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