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XXII. On the Diaposematic Resemblance hehvcen Huphina 

 corva aoid Ixias baliensis. By F. A. Dixey, M.A., 

 M.D., F.L.S., Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. 



[Read December 5tli, 1906.] 



Plate XXXI. 



Among the geographical forms of Huphina nerissa, Fabr., 

 there occurs ia Java, Bali and Lombok a fairly well- 

 marked island race to which Wallace in 1867 gave the 

 name of corva. A similar form, called by Butler from 

 its habitat H. sumatrana, seems almost indistinguishable 

 from Wallace's type. 



The object of the present paper is to call attention to 

 the remarkable similarity that exists between both sexes, 

 but especially the female, of Huphina corva, and certain 

 females of a form of Ixias found in the same locality. 

 The Ixias in question belongs to the group containing 

 /. venilia, Godt., and /. reinwardtii, Voll., being indeed 

 scarcely separable from the latter. It is the local race 

 inhabiting the island of Bali, and has accordingly received 

 the name haliensis from Fruhstorfer. 



The resemblance here spoken of is well seen on Plate 

 XXXI, but is still more striking when the actual specimens 

 are examined. It can, I think, scarcely be doubted that 

 the likeness between these forms of such diverse affinities 

 has a mimetic significance. The specimens represented in 

 Fig. 3-7 were all captured on the same occasion by Mr. 

 R. Shelford, M.A., F.E.S., and were kindly given by him 

 to the Hope Department at Oxford. It does not appear 

 to have been noticed that the series contained an Ixias 

 until the insects were on the point of being incorporated 

 with the general collection. 



It will be observed that the resemblance to Ixias halien- 

 sis, though shared by both sexes, is stronger in the female 

 than in the male Huphina. This is in accordance with the 

 well-known rule as to the superior means of protection 

 employed by the female sex in correspondence with its 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1906. — PART IV. (JAN. 1907) 



