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SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 

““MIMICRY”’ IN CEYLON BUTTERFLIES, WITH A 
SUGGESTION AS TO THE NATURE OF POLYMORPHISM. 
By R. C. Punnett, M.A., 
Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Professor oj Biology in the 
University of Cambridge. 
(With two coloured Plates. ) 
EING interested in the striking resemblances in colour and 
pattern which are to be found between butterflies belonging 
to different genera and families, I took advantage of a visit to 
Ceylon during the past summer (1909) to observe as many as 
possible of these cases in the living state. Though my stay on the 
Island was a short one—two months only—it was mainly devoted 
to the study of these phenomena, and as I have arrived at definite 
conclusions on some points, I have thought it worth while to place 
on record my observations, together with the ‘few experiments that 
I was able to undertake. 
Before , however, proceeding to my subject-matter, [ wish to make 
certain acknowledgments. To my friends, Dr. Willey and Mr. R. 
H. Lock, I am grateful for unwearying kindness and for generously 
giving me all the assistance that was in their power. I owe also a 
debt of gratitude to Mr. E. E. Green for placing freely at my 
service his encyclopedic knowledge of the insects of Ceylon, and for 
a consignment of butterflies which arrived shortly after my return. 
To Col. Manders and to the Hon. Mr. F. Mackwood I am indebted 
for information ; to the latter also for several specimens. Lastly, I 
wish to acknowledge the kindness of Prof. Poulton, who was good 
enough before my departure to give me some duplicate specimens 
illustrating the most conspicuous cases of mimicry in Ceylon 
butterflies, thereby materially lightening my task of becoming 
familiar with a strange fauna. 
The Principal Cases of Mimicry in Ceylon Butterflies. 
Though the Rhopaloceran fauna of Ceylon is not a rich one in 
comparison with that of most tropical countries, several cases have 
B 9(6)10 
