156 THE entomologist's record. 



Meyrick and others, the trace of the median nervure in the discoidal cell 

 of certain species of Parnossidi (see fig. 9 — a fore- wing cell, b hind- wing 

 cell), clearly shows that it has not the remotest direct connection with 

 any super-family above the family ('omdac, and, as there is no trace 

 of a frenukmi in the Khopalocera, it probably originated separately 

 about the same time as the frenulum branch. This, however, is 

 merely a suggestion. 



I have attempted to show in this article the value of neuration, etc., 

 in studying the evolution of the Lepidoptera. Closer details of the 

 neuration in the difi'erent groups must of necessity be dealt with in 

 separate papers. 



Description of Plate I. : — Fig. 1, Hepialiis Jnoindi, asymmetrical 

 hind-wings ; fig. 2, OposUya crcpiiscidilla, an extreme form of 

 neuration ; fig. 3, Zeuzera pi/rina, asymmetrical fore-wings ; fig. 4, 

 C'o.v.sM.s lu/nipcnJa ; fig. 5, Type of Cossid neuration, an Australian 

 species ; fig. 6, Stauropus fcu/i ; fig. 7, SpJnn.v lii/nstri, type of 

 Sphin(/idi ; fig. 8, Sinerinthus pnpuli, an extreme form of SDicrint/n'di ; 

 fig. 9a, Discoidal cell of Parnassid fore-wing ; fig. 9b, Discoidal cell 

 of Pornassid hind-wing. 



MIMICRY. 



V. — The origin of leaf-markings as a mimetic pattern. 

 By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



We have already learned that the imitation of leaves is a special 

 adaptation, by means of which many insects are protected against 

 their enemies, and it is of importance to notice that this sort of 

 imitation is by no means restricted to a few genera, still less to a 

 few species. All the species of the genus Anaea, which are dis- 

 tributed over the forests of tropical South America, the species of the 

 American genera, Hypna and Sidcrone, the Asiatic Sij^nphai'dra, the 

 African Halamh and Eunjplti'mc, exhibit this striking form of protec- 

 tion. Weismann says that he has observed fifty-three genera in 

 which it is present in one, several, or in many species, but there are a 

 great number of others. 



As Weismann points out, " these genera are by no means all so 

 nearly allied that they could have inherited the leaf-markings from a 

 common ancestral form. They belong to difi'erent continents, and 

 have probably, for the most part, assumed their protective coloration 

 themselves. But one resemblance they have in common — they are 

 all forest-butterflies. Now, what is it that has put so many genera 

 of forest-butterflies, and no others, into positions where they could 

 acquire the resemblance to leaves ? Was it directive formative laws ? 

 If we closely examine the markings by which the similarity to the 

 leaf is determined, we shall find, for example, in Kail i ma inai-lds 

 and paralh'cta (j)amlekta), the Indian leaf-butterflies, that the leaf- 

 markings are executed in absolute independence of the other uni- 

 formities governing the wing." 



Weismann's description of the markings of the underside of A'. 

 paralekta reads as follows : — " From the tail of the wing to the apex 

 of the fore-wings, runs, with a beautiful curvature, a thick, doubly- 

 contoured dark line, accompanied by a brighter one, representing 



