XXV 



cases which is the imitating species, as the object of the disguise is 

 in]rnedi'''^'^^'y apparent.* 



<i -^yith iriauy other species, also, which are less widely separated such 

 cliaract'"'^'' are of great service. Thus the black Archoitlas Tereus, with the 

 white spots on the margin of the fore-wings and the rose-red of the hind- 

 winf.''' pi'esents a strange appearance am-ong its congeners, whilst Papilio 

 l^gp^haUon belongs to a long series of similarly coloured species, so that 

 ^hpfre this Papilio is rare and the Archonids common, we cannot for this 

 i-e?'"''! regard the latter as the model of the former. 



'" "The more closely related are the two species which resemble one 

 ^another, the more alike were they ah initio, and the more uncertain in 

 consequence is this second indication of mimicry ; it becomes perfectly 

 useless in cases where the nearest allies of the two species are without a 

 common, peculiar, sharply defined form of marking and colouring. Colanis 

 Julia and Eueides Alijihera will again serve as examples. In the geims 

 Colanis, near the fiery-red Julia, there stands the green Dido, and other 

 species with still different colours and form of wing, whilst in the genus 

 Eueides, the spotted Isabella and the Acra^a-like Favana stand near the 

 faery- red AUpliera. 



" Of the two genera under consideration, Thijridia possesses a rather 

 larger number of similar allies [Dircenna, for instance) than does Ituna, and 

 we might perhaps consider the latter to be the imitating species since, with 

 respect to flowers, it appears to possess the taste of the Ithomise, and not 

 that of the blood-related Danaidge. 



" With regard to the third and last indication of mimicry, viz., that the 

 model is protected from enemies by unpleasant taste and odour, whilst 

 the imitator is without such protection, and thus derives benefit from its 

 resemblance to the distasteful model, it is to be remarked that model and 

 mimic could be distinguished from one another with certainty if all distasteful 

 species possessed for insectivorous birds, as well as for us, a repulsive odour, 

 and if also butterflies malodorous to us did not occur as mimics. 



" The Ithomise of the Amazons and their allies (e, g., Mechanitis), as 

 Bates observed, are imitated by so many butterflies belonging to the most 

 different families that they may certainly be correctly regarded as quite safe 



* And yet tliis seemingly impossible niiseoiicoptiou has occurred to a German 

 Professor. Prof. Vitus Grabor, iu his recent interesting book, ' Die lusekten,' whicli 

 is rich in new facts and ideas (but which certainly misrepresents foreign species and 

 much else), speaks (vol. ii. 1, p. 72) of " certain sand-wasps which, iu order the more 

 readily to deceive their prey, tlie genus of crickets, Si^hacara, disguise themselves in 

 the form of their victims." The " genus of crickets, Sphacura" must certainly be 

 the locust genus, Scaphura. The author has distorted the name as well as the fact. 

 Wasps do not resemble locusts, but the latter mimic wasps, which certainly carry in 

 locusts (but not in the perfect state) for their young, and never Scaphura, as far as 

 I have seen. Their deceptive resemblance to wasps serves them as a protection. 



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