70 *' MIMICRY RINGS" [ch. 



further, for ^ even the most devoted adherents of the 

 theory of mimicry as brought about by the operation 

 of natural selection on small variations are hardly 

 likely to subscribe to the phylogenetic consequences 

 which it must entail in cases where a model is mimicked 

 by the females of several species whose males are 

 widely dissimilar in appearance. 



Even if we suppose the two Danaines to have 

 been originally like the male of one of the three mimics, 

 we must stiU suppose that the females of the other 

 two originated as " sports," sufficiently near to Danaines 

 to be confused with them. But if such sports can 

 be produced suddenly by some mutational process 

 not at present understood, why should not these 

 sports be the females of the three mimicking species 

 as we see them at present ? Why need we suppose 

 that there were intermediate stages between the 

 mimicking female and the original hypothetical female 

 which was like the male ? If a sport occiu-red which 

 was sufficiently similar to an unpalatable species to 

 be confused with it, it is theoretically demonstrable 

 that, although relatively scarce to start with, it would 

 rapidly increase at the expense of the unprotected 

 male-like female until the latter was eliminated. We 

 shall, however, return in a later chapter (p. 96) to 

 the argument by which this view can be supported. 



So far we have discussed what we called the two 

 extreme views as to the way in which a mimetic 

 resemblance may be supposed to have originated. Of 

 the two that which assumes the resemblance to have 



