( xxiii ) 



elevation of from 2,500 to 3,000 feet. It was wrong to sup- 

 pose that any Helicoulus ■laelpomeite-Xik.a species eiitei'ed the 

 association as Heliconius species of this pattern did not ascend 

 to such an elevation, or if they ever did it was only as a 

 rare exception.* The Ilelicouhis species that did occur and 

 occur plentifully were //. xenoclea with the closely similar //. 

 microclea, each of which had two red bauds on the fore-wing. 

 Dr. F. A. Dixey had in his memoir *' On the Relation of 

 Mimetic Patterns to the Original Form " in the Transac- 

 tions for 1896, discussed the likelihood of //. '' 'iiielpomene " 

 obtaining its red spots at the base of the abdomen on the 

 under-side from the Pierine Pereute leucodrosiine. What has 

 been stated above, however, made such a conclusion impossible. 

 The Adelj)ha lara formed a much better mimic than any Heli- 

 Gonins by reason of its more rounded and broader wing outline 

 in addition to the colouring which in the fore-wing was ex- 

 tremely alike. On the under-side, if when both Pereute and 

 Adelj)ha are at rest they conceal the coloured portion of the 

 fore-wing the hind-wing would then give a very strong 

 similarity of one to the other. 



Variation in Smerintiius populi. — Mr. L. W. Newman 

 exhibited a long and varied series of Smerinthus jyopidi bred 

 from wild Bexley parents in June 1907, the series ranging 

 from extreme dark specimens (about six per cent.) to very 

 light (about ten per cent.), and pink shaded or tinged (about 

 twenty per cent.) : the remainder -being intermediate forms. 



Three gynandromorphic specimens were bred (one of which 

 was exhibited) ; in two of these the only clue to their being 

 gynandromorphous being the antennae, ^ on left, and $ on right 

 side ; while in the third specimen the wings were much larger 



* Siieli is the evidence of Messrs. Watkins and Tomlinson, who have 

 collected and sent home many thousands of Imtteiflies from Eastern Peru. 

 In the "Macro Lepidoptera of the World" (Seitz), Vol. II, p. 4 (1908), 

 it is stated, however, that in Colomliia Pcrcutc Icucculrosimc, Adelplta i.'iis, 

 Papilio euterpinus and Ilcliconius mclpomeiic, all occur together on the 

 same hush. If the Hcliconius species had heeu given as H. fjuarica or H. 

 hydara, the statement might have hcen accepted, Imt as B. mclpomcue 

 is essentially a low-level species, it is scarcely possible that it can ever l)e 

 observed with Pereute species, which do not occur near sea-level. The 

 statement needs confirmation. If //. guarica be substituted for H. 

 mtipovicjie, we still have a most interesting combination, and one whose 

 units are different to those in Peru. — W. J. K. 



