( XXlil ) 



Personally, he was not disposed to reject Bates's theory 

 which, even if of less general application than was commonly 

 supposed, was strongly supported by evidence from other 

 orders of insects, but he was unable to accept that which had 

 been called by the name of Fritz Miiller. What was to take 

 the place of the latter ? At present, nothing. Until more 

 information had been collected on the habits and variation of 

 homoeochromatic species, and on selective agencies, there 

 were no data on which a new theory could be legitimately 

 founded. But he desired to call attention to a significant 

 passage in Bates's original paper on Mimicry (Trans. Linn. 

 Soc, 1861, p. 501). Bates said therein : " The process of 

 the creation of a new species I believe to be accelerated in 

 the IthomicB and allied genera by the strong tendency of these 

 insects, when pairing, to select none but their exact counter- 

 parts ; this also enables a number of very closely allied ones 

 to exist together, or the representative forms to live side by 

 side on the confines of their areas, without amalgamating." 

 Such a statement indicated the possibility that sexual 

 selection, or the segregation of forms might take place as a 

 direct act of p3rception on the part of the insects themselves. 

 If such a phenomenon were shown really to exist, it would 

 remove many of the difficulties which the present theories 

 entailed, and in view of Bates's definite and repeated state- 

 ments, some proof or disproof of them should be attempted 

 before the MLillerian theory came to be regarded as more than 

 a merely provisional suggestion. 



The President : The point had been raised by Mr. Elwes 

 that the destruction of species in the imago stage was of little 

 importance when compared with the much greater destruction 

 of larvae and pupae which took place. As a matter of fact, 

 he could bear witness that certain species at any rate of 

 Dmais and Acrcba were distasteful and protected in all stages. 

 The larvae and pupfE of Danais chnjsippus and of five or six 

 species of South-African Acroea were rejected by cage-birds 

 and common fowls ; they were highly conspicuous (especially 

 the pupae of Acroea, which are white or yellowish-white with 

 orange and black bars and spots, and suspended indiscrimin- 

 ately on green leaves, dark-brown bark of trees, tarred 



