^ ( lii ) 



extracts from two letters written by Dr. Carpenter and dated 

 respectively on August 22 and 31 of the present year. 



" ' Talking about pairs in cop., I liave just been re-reading 

 the " Descent of Man," and when Darwin talks about the ? 

 Pieris and Epinephele supporting the <S, it struck me that my 

 impression was, out here, that facts would not conform to 

 this. I fancied that I had never seen the ? supporting the c? 

 in Pierines. So I have started collecting pairs in cop. and 

 noting which sex carries the other. Between Aug. 18 and 

 to-day inclusive I have got pairs of two species of Belenois 

 (one each), three of a Teracolus, and four of Pinacopteryx 

 simana, ^ ^ all supporting $ $. I shall continue to do this, 

 and wish I had done so before (one's entomological sins are 

 usually of omission !). Seeing how, broadly speaking, ^ and 

 $ Belenois are on a par with our home Pieris, the $ ought to 

 carry the <$. Also P. simana, in one sense, seeing that the 

 $ is more blotched with black, though the S bas black veins 

 better developed. I am more of the feeling that the c^ Pieris 

 should be looked on as the " brighter " owing to absence of 

 black. What is known about say the S. American mimetic 

 species, with black and white S ? — i- e. which sex carries which ? 

 I remember glancing at some notes by Dr. Dixey on this 

 point, but as I had not devoted any attention to the subject 

 I did not read them carefully.' 



" ' I wrote recently that I was getting interested in the 

 question of, when butterflies unite in cop., which sex supports 

 which. What made me pay attention to it was the " Descent 

 of Man," where Darwin deals with sexual selection among 

 insects, and talks of the difierent colours of sexes in butter- 

 flies (chap. xi. p. 319, in revised second edition of 1899). He 

 says that in England, with Colias edusa, Pieris, and Epinephele 

 jurtina " it is the $ $ that support the ^ S, so that the part 

 which the two sexes play is reversed, as is their relative beauty," 

 and, later, " the ? $ take the more active part in the final 

 marriage ceremony, so that we may suppose that they like- 

 wise do so in the wooing." Well, since I last wrote I have 

 got quite a number of pairs of Pierines in cop. : namely, 

 Belenois (two species) 7, Teracolus 4, and PinacojJteryx simana 

 14, in every case 3 supporting ?. With Teracolus, the 3 



