( xxxviii ) 



back, exposing tlie tawny under-surface, but in South Africa 

 the wings are spread out, showing the brownish-grey upper 

 side which harmonises with the colours of the rocks in that 

 region." 



In reference to this subject the author, in the appendix to 

 his work, quoted W. L. Distant in "A Naturalist in the 

 Transvaal," London, 1892, and in " Assimilative Coloration," 

 Zoologist (4), ii, 1898. The volume last-mentioned contained 

 two papers on " Assimilative Coloration," but no reference 

 to H. daedahis could be found in either. The " Naturalist in 

 the Transvaal " refers on pp. 41, 42, to the resting-habits of 

 the species which were also discussed by Mr. W. L. Distant 

 in " An Assumed Instance of Compound Protective Ee- 

 semblance in an African Butterfly " — a letter written to 

 "Nature" (XLIII, 1891, p. 390) from the Transvaal in 

 January, 1891. Alike in this letter and in his volume 

 Mr. Distant most carefully guarded himself, saying of the 

 unconfirmed account of the attitude of the butterfly in West 

 Africa, " if the reports as to its habits are correct," and 

 " according to report." Mr. Distant had good grounds, from 

 his own experience, to doubt the statement; for he tells us 

 that, after watching for months in the Transvaal, he had 

 never seen a specimen with the wings vertically closed, as 

 described in Wallace's " Darwinism " (London, 1889, p. 207). 

 The origin of Wallace's information was traced by the refer- 

 ence given in his footnote to a statement by Rutherford in 

 these Proceedings for Aug. 7, 1878 (p. xlii). We here en- 

 countered the error at its source. Speaking of the sun-loving 

 habits of Aterica meleagris, Cr. {H. daedalus), Eutherford 

 said " He had never observed it settle on leaves, but always 

 on the ground, and with closed wings, the under side of which 

 have such a resemblance to the colour of the soil that he had 

 always experienced the greatest difficulty in detecting the 

 butterfly when at rest." He then went on to suggest that 

 the under sides resembled the colour of the soil in various 

 parts of Africa, exhibiting specimens from Senegambia, 

 Calabar and Cameroons, Natal and the Mozambique coast, 

 Masila (Usambara), and banks of the Atbara. 



It was of course excessively unlikely that the same species 



