Habits of certain Borjimn Butterflies. 217 



approached by many wooerSj and we may reasonably suppose 

 finally selects according to her or his individual taste. 



But it is not so easy thus to argue about 0. Brooheana. 

 Tliat the female wooed the male was evident ; she came for 

 him. That she chose him was quite as clear to my mind — ■ 

 the coquetting flight, following his every turn for twenty 

 minutes, the drooped abdomen, said so almost as plainly as 

 words. Can we suppose it was a deliberate choice after 

 visiting many others? That she carried in her mind not only 

 an ideal but the memory of other possible husbands who fell 

 short of her ideal, which this one most nearly approached? 

 Can we also believe the males, more beautiful, more active, 

 more numerous, had lost all eagerness, and, like Shetlanders 

 ashore, were content to be passive and petted, though wives 

 were so scarce and so necessary? It certainly looked to me 

 as though, being mature, she accepted the first male she met. 



When, too, as we have seen, there seems so little relation 

 between the habits, beauty, or numbers of the sexes and the 

 sex of the wooer, it becomes difficult to see why we should 

 introduce the complex machinery of sexual selection to per- 

 form what the ordinary laws of evolution seem equally capable 

 of carrying out. 



It may be I witnessed an abnormal case ; but this is un- 

 likely. 



LeiJtocircus curius. — This butterfly is not at all common in 

 British North Borneo, and I have only seen it on streams and 

 rivers in rocky places well open to sunshine. 



It is an exceedingly swift flier, darting with rapidly 

 vibrating wings from point to point, dashing backwards and 

 forwards over a particular patch of sand like a dragon-fly, and 

 making considerable journeys in the day. Like many other 

 butterflies it is methodical, frequenting the same places at the 

 same hour ; so that when once seen I could always find it 

 again. It is an early riser, and may be caught drinking 

 before nine o'clock. It delights in hot sunshine and is com- 

 paratively sluggish on dull days. 



When drinking it has a most remarkable habit of ejecting 

 the water from behind. Pushing its proboscis into tlie wet 

 sand it takes long steady drinks, and pumps the water out 

 astern in rhythmic squirts, forming quite a little stream. It 

 can project the water full 6 inches. At such times it can be 

 approached closely if no sudden movement be made. It does 

 not always pump, and I have often watched for it in vain *. 



* My friend Mr. J. Ilayward Allard has recently noticed this habit in 

 P. sarjiedon, but the volume of water is leas and the strokes slower than 

 with Leptocircus. 



Ann. <& Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. iv. 15 



