482 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall 07i 



had my finger and thumb met across its thorax than my 

 heart beat high with that keen excitement that every 

 ardent entomologist feels when he has found some un- 

 expected treasure — for I knew I had got a new mimic of 

 chriisipjms ! A short insijection showed it to be a new 

 Lycjenid — a Mimacrxa (since named M. marsIiaUi, Trimen). 

 On the other hand, when I caught my first specimen of 

 Alctis here in Malvern in March 1893, I remember it 

 puzzled me much, for I felt sure it was not a mimic of 

 vlirysippus, and yet I could not understand the reason of 

 the colouring, for I was then unaware of Mliller's theory. 



" To return to misi^rpus, although I admit it is a some- 

 what difficult case, yet the fact that it has elected to mimic 

 what I take to be the hardiest and best-protected butterfly 

 in Africa, combined with the general adaptability to varying 

 conditions which one would expect it to share with its 

 nearest allies the Junonias, must I fancy go a long way 

 towards explaining its wide range and comparatively large 

 numbers. There is another factor that must not be over- 

 looked, and that is that through a considerable portion of 

 its range in South-east Africa at all events it is the only 

 butterfly which shows mimicry of ckrysippus. This is 

 particularly noticeable on the rolling grass veldt of the 

 inland plateaux where c]hrysip)pus is particularly abundant. 



" I think your idea as to the latter insect having originated 

 in Africa is excellent and in every way most probable." 



" Salishury, March 6-10, 1898.— The facts that you 

 mention with regard to Hypolimnas are certainly very 

 curious, and would seem to be only explicable by presuming 

 the species you mention to be protected. But in the case 

 of HypoUmnas. misippus, after reviewing the general habits 

 and attitude of the female, I cannot bring myself to believe 

 that it is anything but a true Batesian mimic. Might it 

 not be a similar case to that of the genus Papilio, in which 

 we have the distinctly protected and distasteful P. coon 

 and at the same time the clearly mimetic P. cenea ? " 



T>. A Study of Mimetic Forms may enable us to reconstruct 

 the Lost Stages through tohich the Older Model has 

 piassed. 



If hlugii has been derived from chrysippus we should 

 expect to find traces of the markings of the latter upon 

 the winsfs of the former. And as a matter of fact faint 



