1909] Mimicry in the BvUierflies of North America 237 



logical Soc: To these descriptions of course you will refer. — You will 

 be glad to find that many of the minute Coleoptera from Sydney are 

 mounted on cards. — Will you send me as soon as you conveniently 

 can, one of my boxes, as I am in want of them to transplant some 

 more insects. — Perhaps you had better return the Carabi, as they came 

 from several localities I am afraid of some mistake. We must put out 

 specimens for the Entomolog: Soc: and your Cabinet. May I state 

 in a note on your authority that a third or a half of the insects which 

 you already have of mine from Sydney and Hobart town arc undcs- 

 cribed. — It is a striking fact, if such is the case, for it shows how imper- 

 fectly known the insects are, even in the close neighborhood of the 

 two Australian Capitals. 



Floreat Entomologia 



Yours most truly, 

 Wednesday. Chas. Darwin.^* 



The last words of Darwin's letter are surely a most fitting 

 conclusion to this Anniversary Address, and I conclude by quoting 

 his humorous repetition of them probably twenty years later. 



'Floreat Entomologia'! — to which toast at Cambridge I have 

 drunk many a glass of wine. So again, "Floreat Entomologia.' 

 N. B. I have not now been drinking any glasses full of wine." 



CONCLUSIONS. 



It will probably be convenient to sum up rather fully the chief 

 conclusions contained in the foregoing address. 



1. The study of Mimicry possesses special advantages for 

 an understanding of the history and causes of evolution. 



2. North America is the most suitable area in the world in 

 which to begin the study of Mimicry. 



3. The great American Danaine butterflies, formerly includ- 

 ed in the genera Anosia and Tasitia, are a foreign element in the 

 New World fauna. They bear the closest affinity to a large group 

 of indigenous Old W'orld Danainae, and should be fused with the 

 nearest of these {Limnas, and Salaiiira) into a single genus, 

 Danaida. 



•«The letter is addressed: "The Revd. F. W. Hope, 56, Upper Seymour 

 Street." At the head Mr. Hope had written "D," and the date "1837." The 

 red-stamped post-mark gives the date "Ju. 22, 1837." Darwin's own address 

 (3fi, Great Marlborough Street) does not appear. At the date of the letter the 

 Entomological Society of London possessed a large collection of insects, lon^^ 

 since dispersed. Darwin knew Mr. Hope before the Vovage, and speaks in let*^ 

 ters to W. D. Fox (1829-30) of his splendid collection and of his generosity with 

 specimens. He also went for an entomolog;ical trip in North Wales with Hope 

 (June, 1829), unfortunately broken short for Darwin bv ill health See I ife 

 and Letters, i. 174, 175, 178, 181. G. R. Waterhouse" and Francis Walker 

 referred to in the letter, were both on the staff of the British Museum. 



*• To Sir John Lubbock (Lord Aveburv), some date before 1857. — Life and 

 Letters ii. 141. 



