418 PACKARD— ORIGIN OF MARKINGS OF ORGANISMS. [Dec. 2, 



miles away from this locality the insects were red, yellow — any 

 color but blue ; but in this particular locality blue was so character- 

 istic a tint, that out of twenty butterflies ten were entirely blue and 

 the remaining ten partially blue. Nor was blue found to be con- 

 fined to the Lepidoptera, the flies and Hemiptera were also largely 

 blue. Dr. Seitz adds that we must not put down every color to 

 mimicry, need for protective resemblance, warning coloration and 

 so forth ; for there are plenty of phenomena which do not seem 

 capable of explanation on any of these theories. 



Mailer's theory. — In his paper published in Kosmos, May, 1879, 

 and translated with notes by Mr. Meldola in the Transactions of 

 the Entomological Society of London, for the same year, Miiller 

 stated his theory. 



After discussing the resemblances in shape and color between 

 liuna ilione and Thyridia megisto, and the structural difl"erences 

 which prove that they must have had separate ancestors, be inquires 

 which is the original form and which the mimic. ** Does not," he 

 says, "a species which serves as a model occur always in countless 

 swarms, while the mimic is a hundred times more rare ? Does not 

 the model bear the hereditary coloring of its genus and family, 

 while the mimic appears in borrowed plumes ? And finally, is not 

 the model unpalatable on account of its repulsive taste and odor, 

 being for these reasons safe from foes, while the mimic finds protec- 

 tion in its disguise, without which it would be devoured as a tasty 

 model?" 



Miiller then states that the imitating species may, at least in some 

 districts, be more common than its model ; *' it is also conceivable,** 

 he says, '* that the model species may become extinct while the mim- 

 icking species remains unaffected." He then says that in the case 

 of the Ituna and Thyridia under consideration, both species are 

 rare, at least in Santa Catharina, " and their relative numbers give 

 no clue, therefore, as to which is the model." Both also are 

 equally well protected by distastefulness. He also adds: "Now 

 what does the mimicry of protected species signify ? What advan- 

 tage can it be to the rare Eueides parana to be so wonderfully like 

 the common Acraa thalia, and what benefit can one species derive 

 from resembling another, if each is protected by distastefulness? 

 Obviously none at all if insectivorous birds^ lizards, etc, have 

 acquired by inheritance a knowledge of the species which are taste- 

 ful or distasteful to them — if an unconscious intelligence tells them 



