418  Lieut.-ColongygN. Manders on a factor in the 
to’ be seized and eaten by a hungry bird or lizard as other 
species of butterfly. 
A Miillerian combination hypothesises that a number of 
evil-tasting butterflies, in this case three, were originally 
sufficiently dissimilar as to necessitate a young bird tasting 
acertain number of each in order to ascertain their 
inedibility or otherwise, and with a view to reducing the 
mortality thus caused these more or less dissimilar butter- 
flies formed a pattern common to all, thus making a group 
or combination. ‘There is no proof, as far as I know, that 
these South Indian butterflies have acted in this manner, 
and, as I shall show, one of them at any rate is over a 
large area of its distribution entirely isolated, not only 
from the other two, but from all other Huploeas, and at the 
same time it is in no way different from them, and there- 
fore the evidence is against a departure from dissimilar 
ancestral types. 
In the absence of any proof of experimental tasting on 
the part of young birds so far as the South Indian species 
of Huploea are concerned, it is, I think, advisable before 
accepting such asa Miillerian combination to study the 
geographical distribution of the butterflies in question to 
ascertain whether this throws any light on the subject. 
Before dealing with each species in detail I may say that 
the three in question, viz. #. core, HE. coreta and £. kollari 
occur also in Ceylon as geographical races, and as such 
have received the names J. asela, montana and sinhala 
respectively, but to avoid confusion I shall refer to them 
under their continental names; and as JZ, kollari is itself 
a geographical race of H. klugii (fide de Nicéville) I shall 
use this name in connection with it. 
No detailed description of these insects is necessary, as 
they have been figured by Mr. Moulton and by Mr. Moore 
in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. I need only 
say that typically they are brown butterflies with a sub- 
marginal row of white spots on the fore and hind wing. 
As the distribution of Z. coreta is the most simple I will 
give it first. It extends from about the latitude of Bom- 
bay southwards to Ceylon. It is found on both sides of 
the Western Ghats and also on the sea coast; it is very 
seldom met with above 6,000 ft., and is perhaps most 
common at 1,200 ft.; though very abundant where it 
occurs it is decidedly local and is very frequently accom- 
panied by the ubiquitous #. core. It is, as figured by 
