14 BUTTERFLIES IN DISGUISE 



This, however, is the view of it taken by Belt, 

 who remarks that " it is supported by the* fact that 

 many of the males of the mimetic Leptalides have 

 the upper half of the lower wing of a pure white, 

 wMlst all the rest of the wings is barred and spot- 

 ted with black, red, or yellow, like the species they 

 mimic. The females have not this white patch, 

 and the males usually conceal it by covering it 

 with the upper wing, so that I cannot imagine its 

 being of any other use to them than as an attraction 

 in courtship, when they exhibit it to the females, 

 and thus gratify their deep-seated preference for 

 the normal color of the order [tribe] to which the 

 Leptalides belong." 



Still another difficulty besets the subject, — a 

 difficulty m part recognized by Bates. It has 

 been the subject of much discussion, but on the 

 princi23les supported above is far more easily dis- 

 posed of. Bates found not only that the distaste- 

 ful Ileliconoid butterflies were mimicked by those 

 which were in evident need of protection, from the 

 fact of their being greedily eaten by insectivorous 

 animals, but that there were cases of mimicry quite 

 as close among the Heliconoid butterflies them- 

 selves. Many instances of the same kind have 

 since been recognized in other parts of the world. 



