DESCBIPTION OF PLATE 



The figures have been copied, by kind permission of the author, and 

 the council of the Linnean Society, from the plates accompany- 

 ing Mr. Roland Trimen's paper, ' On some Remarkable Mimetic 

 Analogies among African Butterflies.' (' Linn. Soc. Trans.' vol. 

 xxvi. pp. 497, et seqq.) 



All figures are represented one-half of their natural size. The 

 appearance of the under side of the wings is shown on the left hand 

 of the four upper figures. 



Figure 1. — The male of Papilio merope (now called P. cenea ; the 

 name P. merope being restricted to the West African form), from 

 Knysna, Cape Colony. A closely allied butterfly (P, meriones), 

 with a very similar male, is found in Madagascar. 



Figure 2. — The female of Papilio meriones, from Madagascar, The 

 male is almost exactly like Figure 1. The black bar on the costal 

 margin of the fore wing of the female probably represents the 

 beginning of the darkening which has been carried so far in the 

 females of the African P. merope and P. cenea. 



Figure 3. — First or cenea-iovm of female of Papilio merope (now 

 called P. cenea), from Knysna, Cape Colony, The female is totally 

 unlike the male of the same species (Figure 1), but closely mimics 

 an unpalatable butterfly, Daiiais ecJveria, prevalent in its locality. 

 The appearance of the latter is shown in Figure Sa. The mimetic 

 resemblance is seen to be very striking on both upper and under 

 ' sides of the wings. A local variety of the Danais is also 

 mimicked by a corresponding variety of the Papilio. 



Figure 4. — Second or hippocoon-ioxva of female of Papilio merope 

 (now called P. cenea), from Graham's Town, Cape Colony. This 

 variety mimics the southern form of the unpalatable Danais 

 niavius, shown in Figure ia. 



Figure 5.- Third or trophonius-ioxva of female of Papilio merope 

 (now called P. cenea), from Knysna, Cape Colony. This variety 

 mimics the abundant and unpalatable Danais chrysippus shown 

 in Figure 5a, 



In a closely allied species of Papilio from West Africa (the true 

 Papilio merope) the male closely resembles Figure 1, while there are 

 two mimetic varieties of female. The J tippocoon-torm. is like Figure 4, 

 except that it is larger and the white patch on the hind wing 

 is smaller ; corresponding in both these respects to the West African 

 variety of Danais niavius. The ^roj^/iomzts-form resembles Figure 5. 

 There is no cenea-iorm of this species. For further details se*) 

 pp. 234-38. 



