RHOPALOCERA MALAYAN A. 169 



To add to the reasonableness of this exphination we have the following cumulative evidence : — 

 In Eastern Africa and South-Western Asia an allied species to Daiiais chriisippus is found — ■ 

 the D. dorippus, King — and here we find also a closely-allied species to, or a local race of, 

 HijpoUmnas misippus, — the H. inaria, Cram., — the female of which is a close mimic of King's 

 Danaid.* And quite recently Mr. Butler has described,! from the Victoria Nyauza, another 

 species of the genus, under the name of H. akippoidcs, which is a mimic of the African 

 Danais alcippus. 



Hypolimnas anomala. 



Diadt'iiKc anoiiiala, Wallace, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1809, p. 285, u. 15. 



The species is only known to me by Mr. Wallace's description : — 



"Male. Form of D. Antilope, rather smaller." 



"Above; bronzy or olive-brown, with a blue gloss ou the costal and outer margins of the anterior 

 wings, and the outer part of the hind wings paler. A row of white round spots parallel to the outer margin 

 as in D. Antilope, but larger and more distinct; a band of three white or bluish-white marks, sometimes 

 very indistinct, across the anterior wings beyond the middle ; marginal and submarginal spots as in 

 D. Antilope. Beneath; olive-brown, spots and markings as above, with one additional white spot on the 

 costal margin." 



"Female. Above; rich purple-brown, the whole sm-face of the upper wings, except the basal third, 

 richly glossed with satiny blue ; a transverse band of three bluish elongate spots beyond the cell, and a 

 fourth much smaller ; the two white spots of the intra-marginal band nearest the costa large and confluent, 

 while those nearest the anal angle are small and indistinct. BeneatJi; as in male." 



Hab. — Malay Peninsula ; " Malacca" ( S )■ — " Java" ( 2 ) (coll. Wallace). 



* A closely allied species or race of H. 7tiisij>j}iis has recently been described from Guinea by Herr Dewitz under the 

 name of H. i)oggei (Verb. L.-C. Ak. Naturf. xli. {■!), p. Ho, t. 2, f. 2), and it will be interesting to discover wliether a racial 

 modification of D. chrijsiiipus has also ensued in that habitat. 



In relation to the need of protection required by butterilies from birds and other enemies, necessarily postulated in the 

 doctrine of "'mimicry," it is somewhat remarkable how some able entomologists and many other collectors have failed to see 

 this phase of the struggle for existence in the butterfly world. Thus Mr. S. Scudder, writing from North x\jneriea (' Nature,' 

 vol. iii. p. 1-17), states, "Although I have hunted butterflies for fifteen years I confess I have never seen one in a bmVs bill, 

 and my faith in that method of lessening their numbers is ver3' slight;" and Mr. H. H. Higgins (' Notes of a Field Naturalist 

 in the Western Tropics,' p. 35) records that during three days lie watched two species of Flycatchers actively at work, and that 

 " not a butterfly of any kind was touched" ; and further, that during " the entire journey I did not see a butterfly of any kind 

 attacked by a bird." In striking contrast to these doubts are the affirmations of many distinguished naturahsts and travellers. 

 Thus Mr. Belt ('Naturalist in Nicaragua,' p. 316) observed "a pafr of birds that were bringing butterflies and draguuflies to 

 then- yoimg." Mr. T. P. Bigg- Wither (' Pioneering in South Brazil,' vol. i. p. i'M), speaking of a bird known by the local name 

 of " Suruquii," relates that its "principal food consists of butterflies and other soft-bodied flying insects." Mr. P. H. Gosse 

 ('Bu-ds of Jamaica,' p. 191), writing of one of the Greeulets (Vireosylvia calidris), remarks that he has seen one in eager but 

 unsuccessful pursuit of a butterfly (Tcrias). Mr. Wallace is a witness that "in the Brazilian forests there are great numbers 

 of insectivorous birds — as jacamars, trogons, and pufl'-birds — which catch insects on the wing, and that they destroy many 

 butterflies is indicated by tlie fact that the wings of these insects are often found on the ground, where theii- bodies have been 

 devoured" ('Natural Selection,' p. 79). In Southern India Mr. E.L.Arnold ('On the Indian HiUs,' vol. i. p. '247-8) describes 

 Terias hecate and Papilio pammon as apparently " the principal victims of the graceful green bee-eaters, a pah- of which had 

 their perches on the woodwork of a disused well, and every now and then made rapid darts at passing insects. They never 

 missed their prey, and always brought their quarry back to the same spot to be diswmged before being swallowed, the ground 

 under their watch-towers being thickly strewn with gaily painted shreds of unfortunate buttertUes and bees." Such quotations 

 could be considerably increased if space permitted. 



Besides the numerous foes of butterflies, as bfrds, lizards, dragonflies, &c., may be added at least some of the "foraging- 

 ants." Dr. F. EUeudorf, at Nivas iu Nicaragua, describes having met a column with " all the auts laden with leaves, beetles, 

 pupa;, butterflies, &c." ((Quoted by Biichner, ' Mind in Animals, Eug. transl., p. 98). As to hzards, Mr. K. W. Shufeldt has 

 recently (Amer. Nat. vol. xvii. p. 924-5) described seeing the American Chameleon {Aiwlis principalis) make "a successful 

 spring upon rather a large butteiHy," and having silenced its prey, " tore off the creature's wings, and disposed of his body 

 sans cerenionie." 



t Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, vol. xii. p. 102. 



December, 1883. 2 x 



