142 Mr. Roland Trlmen's Observations an the 



pupa? of the butterfly, kiudlj sent to me by Mr. Weale ; 

 and from one of these, on the 6th May, I had the great 

 ]ileasm'e of rearing Merope. The othei' pupa up to this 

 time (2nd June) has not produced the imago, and its dis- 

 coloured surface makes me apprehend that it is dead. 



The protective resemblance of exposed lepidopterous 

 pupte to their surroundings is very general; but it is 

 specially interesting to find that a butterfly protected by 

 mimicry to such an extraordinary extent in its imago con- 

 dition as P. Merope, should be almost as strikingly 

 favoured in the pupa state. Mr. Weale's description and 

 figures shoAv how closely the chrysalis copies the leaflets of 

 V^epris lanceolata among -svhich it is suspended, the 

 veriest minutiae of colouring and outline being strictly 

 imitated. Though I have not had the pleasure of seeing 

 it attached to the living plant, I can bear witness to the 

 striking imitation Avhich the chrysalis presents of a lan- 

 ceolate leaf. Even on the bare twig of a mimosa to which 

 I had attached it, the leaf-like appearance was so great as 

 to deceive several persons to whom I exhibited the finer of 

 the two pupre sent to me by ]Mr. AVeale. It is most re- 

 markable that the ventral and dorsal aspect of the chrysalis 

 should be of quite different shades of green, corresponding 

 respectively with the colouring of the upper and under 

 surfaces of the leaves. The modifications of shape and 

 outline which combine with the colouring to complete this 

 deceptive resemblance are unusually great, when the pupa 

 is compared with those of other species of Pajnlio. Xot 

 only is the whole pupa much flattened, and the convexity 

 of the ventral and pectoral region balanced by an unusual 

 concavity of the dorsal region (with almost a suppression 

 of the dorso-thoracic prominence), but the development 

 and expansion of the lateral longitudinal ridges is very 

 pronounced. The cephalic projections, however, exhibit 

 the most unique form. If these had retained the customary 

 conspicuous divergence into two prominent processes, as 

 in P. Demoleus, P. Nireus, &c., it is obvious that the 

 general resemblance to a leaf would have been greatly les- 

 sened, and the object of concealment to some extent frus- 

 trated. These projections are, however, brought closely 

 together, so that their inner edges touch throughout their 

 length to the very extremity,* and their outer edges converge 



• Here and there at the meeting-line the contact is not exact, leaving 

 minute crevices between the two projections of the head. 



