MR. TRIMEN ON MIMETIC ANALOGIES AMONG AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 503 



coniidee of America are similar in. this respect, botli groups sliowiug affluity to tlie JSlym- 

 'phcdklce as far as tlie caterpillars are concerned. The thick, bluut chrysalis of the 

 Danaide Butterflies also differs widely from the elongate, slender, and subangulated 

 pupa of Acrwa. 



The African continent is very poor in Dcmaklce, only eight species, belonging to two 

 genera*, being known to inhabit its vast area. Seven belong to the genus Dancds ; and 

 these, with the exception of D. Chrysippus, form a section confined to Africa, Mada- 

 gascar, and Mauritius, and distinguished by a peculiar coloration of conspicuous ochre- 

 yellow or white bands and spots on a black ground. Three of the six species appear to 

 be confined in their range to the western coast, between Sierra Leone and Angola ; one, 

 with an equal range in the west, extends to the Zambesi and Natal ; while two seem to 

 be limited to extra-tropical Southern Africa. It is most remarkable to find, in this vei'v 

 limited number of Daiiaklce, that no less than four are accompanied throughout their 

 range each by its closely-imitating Dkidemu, one of the four {Danais echerki) beiui;' 

 further attended by three mimicking species of FapiUo, and another by one Fapilio that 

 correctly copies it. Danais Clu-ysippus, as is well known, has a faithful imitator every- 

 where, except in Europe, in the ? Bkidema BoUna, and, in the south of Africa, iinds 

 a second mimicker in a rare form of Fapilio, apparently peculiar to that region. 



The Acrcsklce have their metropolis in Africa, about fifty species being known from 

 all parts of the Continent. Six Acrcece are distinctly the objects of mimicry by certain 

 NymphalkJa; nwd Fapilio)ikl(s\. Four of these are West African only; one extends, 

 under a somewhat altered form, to South Africa ; and the sixth appears peculiar to the 

 latter region. The miniickers here, also, are constant attendants on the species imitated ; 

 and in three cases, where the sexes of the Acvcece are dissimilar, the sexes of the mi- 

 mickers differ accordingly. 



It is worthy of notice that the mimicking FapiUoues, whether imitators of Danoklea 

 or Acrcece, are very frequently only the females of the species, to the exclusion of the 

 males, which, in such cases, wear the normal aspect of their immediate congeners j. 

 Among the Bkcdenue and other NymphalklcB, on the contrary, both sexes of the mimickers, 



* Euplmi Goudot'n, well kiwwii as a mitivc of Bourbon, is included, on the authority of Sir .bidrew Smith, wlio 

 presented a specimen from " South Africa" to the British Museum. 



t The magnificent Pitpilio Ant'nniclmn, Drury, of which but one specimen is known to science, is very Acraeiform 

 in habit, and is possibly an iu stance of special modifieation in imitation of some gigantic Acnm as yet unknown, or 

 perhaps extinct. Drury"s having " received" this PapiJio from Sierra Leone is, unfortimatcly, no clue to its actual 

 habitat, the principal sea-ports in many parts of the world usually getting the credit of all natural objects, from 

 whatever distance inland, that are shipped from them to Europe. Antimnclms has the aspect of a slow and heavy 

 flier; and the observation by Smcathman, quoted by Professor Westwood (Arc. Entom. i. p. 14(1), did not originaUy 

 apply to the great Papilio, but to Cliaraxes Cumulus, Drury ( = C. Castor, Fab.), as may be seen on reference t... 

 Drm-y's 3rd volume, pp. 1.5-23, and pi. xxx.). Donovan, in his ' Naturalist's Repository,' first misquoted the passage 

 respecting the flight of the Chara.ces. 



t Among fifteen Indian and Malayan imitative Pajnliones tabulated by Mr. Wallace (loc. cit. p. 20), seven arc 

 expressly mentioned as females. As regards the African species, Pa2nKo lildJfyanws is an instance of both d and $ 

 wearing the aspect of an Acrwa, and, in a less degree, the southern form of PujnUo Leonklas, which is the least 

 accurate of the four uumickers of Baiuus EclierUi : but in this case the majority of the specimens that most resemble 

 the Danais are females. 



