232 THE COLOURS OF ANIMALS 



Mimicry in the Butterflies of Tropical America 



The Heliconidce, and Danaidcs which resemble them, 

 in Tropical America, are chiefly mimicked by Pie rides 

 • — the family of ' Whites ' to which our common 

 Cabbage Butterflies or Garden Whites belong. 

 Mr. Bates figures one non-mimetic species of the 

 family, and the resemblance to our familiar butter- 

 flies, together with the immense difference between 

 it and the mimetic Pieridce in the same country, are 

 very striking. He also figures many beautiful 

 examples of Mimicry, and the two plates should be 

 studied by anyone who can obtain access to Vol. xxiii. 

 of the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society ' (pp. 

 495-566). One of the most striking instances is 

 reproduced in Mr. Wallace's recent work.* 



Mr. Bates found that two different Heliconidce 

 in two adjacent areas were in certain cases mimicked 

 by two varieties of the same species of Pierid, a fact 

 which points to the comparatively recent origin of the 

 resemblance ; for otherwise the two varieties would 

 have had time to become distmct species. A similar 

 fact was observed by Mr. Wallace in the Malay 

 Archipelago. 



The specially protected forms were not only 

 mimicked by Pieridce but by Swallow-tails (Papilio) 

 and other butterflies, and in many cases by day-flying 

 moths also. 



' Loc. cit. p. 241. 



