CHAPTER IV 



NEW-WORLD MIMICS 



Of all the continents South America affords the 

 greatest wealth of butterfly life, and it is in the tropical 

 part of this region that many of the most beautiful 

 and striking cases of mimicry are to be found. Viewed 

 as a whole the butterfly population presents several 

 features which serve to mark it off from that of the 

 other two great tropical areas. In the first place 

 the proportion of gaily coloured forms is higher. 

 Bright red, yellow or fulvous brown contrasted with 

 some deep shade approaching black form the dominant 

 notes. Sombre coloured species are relatively scarcer 

 than in the Oriental and African regions. In the 

 second place when looking over collections from this 

 part of the world one cannot help being struck by the 

 frequency with which similar colour combinations 

 occur over and over again in different as well as in 

 the same groups. Now it is a simple scheme of black 

 with an oblique scarlet band upon the fore wings — 

 now an arrangement with alternating stripes of bright 

 brown and black relieved with patches of clear yellow — 

 now again a scheme of pure transparency and black. 



