Production of Mimetic Resemblances among Butterfiies. 349 



catch any unfortunate halhts that flies up ; but they 

 seem to be unable to take them on the ground, 

 perhaps from the protective colouring of their green 

 under-wings they cannot see them when at rest"; but 

 anyway the swallow is an annoyance to the butterfly 

 collector": Lt.-Col. Irby, "Ornith. of the Straits of 

 Gibraltar," p. 94 (1895, 2nd ed.).— (c) "In England I 

 have noticed a swallow hunting one of the common 

 'Whites' (apparently Pieris brassicae) " : R Trimen 

 Proc. Ent. Soc. L., 1897, p. xci.— (rf) "I have several 

 tnnes had opportunities of observing that white 

 butterflies were captured on the wing by swallows" • 

 M. Spaeth, "111. Zeits. Ent.," 1899, p. 124 (Germany).' 

 —(e) "A good many years ago I released a laroe 

 number of ' Camberwell Beauties' (Trauernicintel). 

 The Swallows collected in a row in front of the win- 

 dow in order to snap up the butterflies. I do not 

 believe that 20 per cent, of the latter reached the 

 adjoining wood, towards which they all directed tlieir 

 course. Tlie same thing happened in the case of 

 some ' Purple Emperors ' (Schillerfaltern) a few years 

 later. ' Tortoiseshells ' (Fiichse) and ' Peacocks ' 

 (Tagpfau) were entirely unmolested by swallows 

 Melitaea and Argynnis were taken " : W. Caspar! ' 

 Soc. Ent. Zurich, xvi, p. 34.— (/) Observed to capture 

 Lycaenn argiolus on the wing: Prof. E B Poulton 

 "Nature," Ixv, 1902, p. 343.-(.9) "Mr. W. Holland 

 tells me that about the middle of June 1901 he saw 

 a swallow swoop down from a great distance and 

 catch a white butterfly (almost certainly Pieris rnpae) 

 flying m front of the [Oxford] Museum"- Prof 

 Poulton, l.c.--{h) "Further, I have often seeii birds 

 catch butterflies in Hongkong, Cochin China and 

 Europe, but neither birds nor butterflies were iden- 

 tified. The birds were in many cases swallows " : 

 Dr. F. Doflein (in a letter dated 12, iv, 1907) — 

 (^) '' Mortehoe, N. Devon. W. Bonner saw' a swallow 

 'spike and carry off' a brown butterfly (he thinks 

 H.jamra). Aug. 23, 1894. Reported to me the same 

 day : Dr F A Dixey {in litt.).~(j) -On the after- 

 noon of July 7, 1901, H. G. Dixey kicked up a 

 specimen of H. janiirt in the Parks, Oxford. As it 

 rose It was taken by a swallow. This was seen by 

 J. Dixey, H. G. Dixey and R. N. Dixey, and reported 



