576 Dr. F. A. Dixey's TC2^ly to Mr. G. A. K. Marshall 



reveal the curious fact that the patches of the Pierine 

 belong always to the wing, and those of the Fapilio, in 

 almost every instance, to the body. The wide distribu- 

 tion of the red basal patches among the Pierine forbids 

 us to suppose that they were evolved for the purpose of 

 mimicry in these few species ; but it is worth noting 

 that their presence affords material ready to hand for a 

 sufficiently deceptive though not absolutely exact copy of 

 a conspicuous Papilionine feature." 



It will be seen from the above quotation that the 

 position of the red spots on Fapilio and Pierine respectively 

 had already been noted and taken into account by me, 

 though this would not be gathered from Mr. Marshall's 

 description on pp. 109, 110. It is also plain that although 

 (like Mr. Marshall) I could not regard the red spots as 

 having come into existence in the Pierine for the sake of 

 mimicking the Fcqnlio, I was prepared to entertain the 

 view that so far as position and general appearance were 

 concerned they had undergone Papilionine influence. 

 The fact that many Fcqnlios, both mimetic and non- 

 mimetic, are red-spotted, was of course well known to 

 me, and is duly stated in the same paper (Trans. Ent. 

 Soc. Lond., 1894, pp. 296, 298). In these latter passages 

 I suggest the possibility, which still appears to me quite 

 reasonable, that Fapilios, Hdiconii and Pierines, all 

 possessing suitable material for working upon, have each, 

 in the case of these mutually mimetic species, contributed 

 something towards the general agreement. The main 

 points in favour of an exercise of Pierine influence, I may 

 repeat, are (1) the prevalence of the basal red throughout 

 the subfamily ; (2) the fact that the genera Eideoye and 

 Feretite are probably closely allied to the distasteful 

 Eastern genus Delias; and (3) the fact that some species 

 at any rate of Euteipe and Fereute are reported by field 

 naturalists to be abundant in individuals. The susfarestion 

 that these South American Pierine " mimics " might 

 themselves act in some respects as models was in 1894 

 so new, and so contrary to received ideas, that I dwelt on 

 the evidence in question with some emphasis. I still 

 think the evidence strong. So far as Mr. Marshall pro- 

 nounces in favour of an independent origin of red spots 

 in all these three subfamilies, I agree with him ; my 

 expressed view has always been the same. If however 

 he really means that no mimetic modification of the spots 



