154 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



mistake the one for the other. I thiuk this may be important in the 

 early stages of approach." 



I fully appreciate that Lieut. -Col. Manders' observations in Ceylon 

 seem to point to a somewhat indiscriminate slaughter of protected 

 species, and not to a discriminative slaughter, but all unpalatable forms 

 have their particular enemies which catch them easily as they are 

 slow and conspicuous. 



The Mendelian Theory (which, in its later application as a useful 

 piece of machinery and as accessory to the Darwinian Theory seems to 

 me to be sound) would explain almost entirely the lack of inter- 

 mediates, and if, and when necessary, would explain the preservation 

 of advantageous intermediates at the time such forms were intermediate 

 and had not become fixed forms. [Confer, Dixey, F.A., (1908), Tram. 

 Ent. Soc. fjoml., p. 751.] I do not know on what basis Lieut. -Col. 

 Manders assumes that a bird's education is complete, if it is off the 

 nest in May, by the following October, but it is at least as great an 

 assumption as any of those he attacks, and I do not think he gives full 

 weight to the fact that birds from the Northern Latitudes which have 

 migrated southward for the winter, arrive, if I may be allowed to judge 

 by the only migratory birds with which I am acquainted, in their 

 winter quarters in September and would, therefore, be doing any 

 tasting that they might require about the time that H. iDisippus is on 

 the wing. 



Judged by the test of stress produced by migrant insectivorous 

 birds and by nesting and nestlings, the cases of supposed Batesian 

 mimicry occurring in these latitudes bear out the theories. 



I believe the following list is approximately correct. 



Model : BombiiH terrestru (sp.) 

 Mimics: Heinarh fuciforudii (early May), H. titi/iis: (early May). 



Model : Leucoma >>alicis. 

 Mimics: Porthesia clirijwrrhaea {aurijiiia) (late June and July). 



Models : Spilonotna liibricijieda and S. nientliastri (not fiara). 

 Mimic: Diaphora menclica $ (June). 



Model : Ve.ipa crahro. 

 Mimics : Tioc]>iliwn apiforniis (May to June), and T. crabroniforuiia*- 

 (late May to July). 



Model : I do not know, but certainly Hymenopterous insects which 

 are probably armed in some way. 



Mimics: Scinptfroii tabaniformis (June), ^Ef/eria scoliaeformis (June to 

 July), ,E. xpheciforiiiis (June to July), ^E. andreiiaeforinis (June to July), 

 yE. tipiiliforiiiis (June to July), .E. veHpiformis {asilifoniii.K) (May to 

 August), ^i<J. niynpaefuriiiis (June), ^E. ci did for oris (April to June), ^E. 

 forwicaeforinis (July to August), ^E. ichneuiiioniforini.H (July to August), 

 A^l. muscaefoniris (June to July), and ^E. chrysidiformin (June and July). 



Looking at the above list it is obvious to the most superficial 

 person that the earliest appears after birds have received an immense 

 accession of numbers by the migrants' arrival, that insect life is at its 



*NoTE. — I would like to say that I was completely taken in by Trochilium 

 crahrotiifonuis on the wing last summer and that 1 have the greatest difficulty in 

 following ^-Eiieria culiri/'ormis and Sexia vei'piformh (axiliforiiiia) on the wing when 

 they get mixed up with Hymenopterous insects. My eyesight is unusually good 

 both in accuracy of focus, truthful rendering of colour and depth of focus, and, 

 moreover, I can use my eyes at a very much wider angle than most people. 



