MIMICRY IN CEYLON BUTTERFLIES. 9 
Summing up such evidence as exists in connection with the 
distribution of our three species, the following statements may be 
taken as a fair presentation of the facts :— 
(1) In the low-country the male form of polytes female is at 
least as numerous as either of the other forms, and may 
be the most abundant of the three. 
(2) In the north-east of the Island, in the ‘‘ hector” country, 
the aristolochiz form of polytesis nearly as abundant as 
the hector form, though its model is at any rate exceed- 
ingly scarce. 
(3) Higher up-country, where P. hector is rare or absent and 
P. aristolochie is common, the hector form of polytes is 
more abundant than the aristolochize form. 
It is obvious that these statements are not in harmony with the 
ideas of those who look to the theory of mimicry for an explanation 
of the polymorphism that exists among the females of P. polytes. 
For if the hector form derives an advantage where P. polytes is 
found associated with P, hector (e.g., at Trincomalee), why is it not 
far more numerous than the other two forms in such places? And 
if the co-existence of P. aristolochic in any locality confers a benefit 
of selection value upon the aristolochie form of P. polytes, how are 
we to reconcile this with the fact that where P. aristolochie is 
exceedingly abundant (e.g., Kandy and Peradeniya) its supposed 
mimic is the scarcest of the three polytes females? And, again, if 
the selection has been so stringent as to give rise to two new forms 
of female in P. polytes, how comes it that the male form is in some 
places still the commonest of the three? It certainly cannot be 
due to “ the atavistic influence of the male,” for, as is well known, 
there are localities in which all the females are of the aristolochie 
form, while the male is of the normal type. 
Whatever the true explanation may be, the facts connected with 
the distribution of these species in the Island of Ceylon are far 
from lending support to the view that the polymorphic females of 
P. polytes have owed their origin to natural selection in the way that 
the upholders of the theory of mimicry would lead us to suppose. 
Some further criticism of the theory as applied to P. polytes will 
be offered in connection with the enemies of butterflies in Ceylon. * 
The Enemies of Butterflies in Ceylon. 
Those who maintain that the resemblances which occur between 
butterflies of distinct species have arisen gradually through the 
operation of natural selection on minute variations have several 
difficulties to encounter. Apart from the question whether a minute 
variation can in many cases be conceived as having any sensible 
selection value, there is the further question of the nature of the 
enemies which give it this presumed value. In other words, what are 
0 9(6)10 
