904 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD EXTOMOL(JGItAL MEETING 



" In Ceylon, tlierefore. if the above statistics are reliable, the ratio 

 between the mimetic and non-mimetic females is one which might be 

 expected if it be assumed that there is no selection in favour of either 

 of these forms of female ; under these conditions the population is 

 stable in composition and may remain so indefinitely. 



" On the whole question, however, no final conclusions can yet be 

 drawn, for, in the first place, the numbers obtained from the statistics 

 may quite possibly be a coincidence, while in the second the effects of the 

 phenomena discovered in connection with the fertility and mating of 

 the species are quite unknown. Possibly the conclusion which can be 

 drawn with the greatest confidence is that the extraordinary mimicry 

 in the female sex is at present of little importance to the population of 

 the butterfly in Ceylon. {Ibid. p. 2.50). " 



I have not at present been able to set beside Mr. Fryer's ratios those 

 derived from breeding in other areas but the following evidence, Cjuoted 

 in all cases from the Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond.. goes far to disprove the general 

 application of the conclusions set forth in the above-quoted paragraphs. 



West slopes of Ashamboo Hills, North-West of Cape Comorin. In this 

 locality in the extreme south of India, J. Williams Hockin collected 

 (1905-16) 30 males, 1 cynis female, 12 poh/tes females, 21 ronwlus female, 

 1 female intermediate between the last two. Of the 12 jwlytes, 4 were 

 stichius with no white in the hindwing cell, 4 polytes with conspicuous 

 white, and 4 intermediate. The female intermediate between polytes 

 and romulus was an interesting form, indistinguishable from some of the 

 forms of theseiis, Cramer, from Borneo. As regards the models Mr. 

 Hockin considered hector decidedly commoner than aristolochiw and 

 indeed the commonest Papilio in the district, aristolocliice being second, 

 and jiolytes third " but several lengths behind."" (1917, Ixxx-lxxxiii.) 



The Ceylonese polytes females, although in a closely adjacent area, 

 are very different in that the stichius form is almost unlvnown while the 

 hind- wing cell of the great majority is conspicuously white-marked. 

 a fact which, it can hardly be doubted, is related to the abundance in 

 Ceylon as compared with India of forms of aristolochicB with a white 

 cellular spot in the hind wings (Rothsd. and Jord.. Nov. Zool., II, 1895, 

 p. 248). 



North Kanara. According to the extensive experience of T. R. Bell, 

 largely derived from breeding, the cyrus form is excessively rare ; it 

 was in fact only once obtained and then by capture. Of the two mimetic 

 forms, both abundant, romulus was perhaps the commoner. (1914, 

 xcix-c.) 



Neighbourhood, of Madras City. Out of 45 females taken on two 

 days in 1915 by Prof, and Mrs. Fyson, 23 were polytes and 22 romithis ; 



