( xliii ) 



and therefore resembled each other, in Bourbon the female of 

 the indigenous species (P. phorbanta) was brown and quite un- 

 like the male. He attributed this to the effects of mimicry, 

 En.plca goudoti being the model. It had since been suggested 

 to him by Professor Poulton and Mr. Trimen that Euplcea 

 evphon resembled both P. phorbanta and Salamis august ina far 

 more closely than E. gnudoti, and they were of opinion that 

 this had been the model for the two species. Against this 

 view was the fact that E. euphon was strictly confined to 

 Mauritius, and no record of its occurrence in Bourbon was 

 forthcoming. This undoubtedly closer resemblance of euphon 

 had led him to further investigate the matter, and there ap- 

 peared to be two hypotheses to account for its disappearance : 

 either goudoti was a modified descendant of euphon, or in some 

 way it had replaced it. With regard to the first point he 

 showed essential differences between the two ; goudoti being 

 moi'e closely connected with that group of Ettplceas placed by 

 iNIoore in the genus Vadebra, and euphoii with those in his 

 genus Nipara. He then discussed the possibly Malayan origin 

 of goudoti, and remarked moi'e particularly on its extraordinary 

 resemblance to E. woodfordi from the Solomon Islands, and 

 expressed the opinion that all the Euplceas of this group were 

 derived from the same ancestral type, and suggested E. 

 climena from Amboina and Ceram as being nearest to it. He 

 dealt with the former history of Mauritius and Bourbon, and 

 explained that both during the Dutch and French occupation 

 in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a large number of 

 Malayan plants were introduced into those islands, and that 

 inasmuch as the voyage from Java was only of three weeks to 

 a month's duration, there was no inherent improbability of 

 E. goudoti being brought to Bourbon by one of the Dutch or 

 French ships. He concluded by describing the physical 

 characteristics of the island, and said that the area favourable 

 for the existence of E\qdaias was extremely small, and as the 

 larvae of goudoti sm^ eu]ihon fed on the same plants there was 

 in all probability a struggle for existence set up in which the 

 invader proved the stronger and eventually exterminated its 

 rival. 



Pi'ofessor Poulton desired to congratulate Colonel Manders 



