76 Dr. F. A. Dlxey oji the Relation of 



imitate two sucli distinct insects as the Papilio and the 

 Helico7iiuK.^~ 



The addition of these two forms, viz., Enterpe heUona 

 and Heliconius erato, the former of which was perhaps 

 not known to Bates, evidently complicates the " mimicry " 

 question. Is the resemblance between the Heliconius 

 and the Papilio, which certainly exists though it is not 

 very close, accidental ? But for the intermediate Pierine 

 forms we should perhaps not have suspected any special 

 relation between them. On the other hand, is the Heli- 

 conius the general model for all the rest ? If so, 

 P. zacyntlius becomes a mimic instead of a model ; whilo 

 its own imitator, E. fereas, is in the curious position of 

 mimicking a mimic, instead of going straight to the 

 ibun tain-head, i.e., the Heliconius. 



In my opinion, the most satisfactory way of accounting 

 for these complicated relations is the supposition that 

 here we have another instance of a mimetic assemblage 

 of the second kind — an ''inedible association." The 

 two extreme forms, viz., the Papilio and the Heliconius, 

 which by themselves might perhaps not be sufficiently 

 near one another to be mutually protective to any very 

 great extent, are held together, as it were, within the 

 limits of an inedible mimetic group, by the welding power 

 of the intermediate Eiiterpes.\ It is of interest in con- 

 nection with what has been already advanced as to reci- 

 procal mimicry, or the give-and-take system, in associa- 

 tions of this kind, that the Papilio, the Heliconius and 

 both Pierines are furnished on the underside with basal 

 red spots. 



T. Conclusion. 



It cannot, I think, be doubted that the remarkable 

 facts touched upon in the present paper raise points of 

 fresh interest in the great question of mimicry. The 

 leading and binding idea in all that I have said has been 



* The Heliconine pattern is still further developed in the female, 

 and on the under sui'face of the male of E. bellona, than on the 

 upper surface of the latter sex as represented in Fig. 17. 



t The series could be rendered still more complete by the 

 insertion of E. critias and E. bellona 9 1 0° the Papilio and 

 Heliconius sides respectively of Euterpe bellona $ . 



