354 THE PLACE OF MIMICRY 



case be admitted that the Batesian interpretation is more 

 probable here than in other butterflies. But, for the 

 reasons given in the discussion upon Prologouius, it ap- 

 pears to me that the balance of probability is the other 

 way. The Elymniinae being, almost without exception, a 

 mimetic Sub-Family, we must certainly assume a mimetic 

 ancestor with qualities determining mimetic descendants. 

 It has been already shown that such a history is con- 

 sistent with the Miillerian interpretation, but with our 

 present knowledge difficult or perhaps impossible to 

 reconcile with the Batesian Hypothesis (see p. 352). 



b. Dimorphic or Polymorphic Mimetic Butterflies with 

 Forms Resembling Different Models. — The phenomenon 

 described in the title of this Sub-Section is quite common 

 among mimetic species. Examples will be given in 

 a later part of this Essay (see pp. 372-5) showing 

 that the male and female of a mimetic species may 

 resemble different models ; that the male may resemble 

 one model, and two kinds of female two others ; that 

 a non-mimetic male may be accompanied by two, three, 

 or even four forms of female mimicking different models. 

 The great example of this latter complex form of mimicry 

 is of course the Ethiopian Papilio dardanus (merope), 

 described on pp. 373-5. 



At first sight such cases appear strongly to support 

 the Batesian interpretation. His hypothesis assumes 

 that the resemblances are a fraud which, if detected, 

 would lead to the destruction of the mimic. It may be 

 admitted that great increase in numbers would multiply 

 the chances of detection, and hence, upon the Batesian 

 Hypothesis, the advantage to a mimic of dividing its indi- 

 viduals among two, three, or four models instead of 

 concentrating all of them upon a single one. Accepting 

 this conclusion, I was much startled in 1902, 1 when 

 considering the African Acraeine butterfly, Acraea 

 esebria, to observe that this protected and distasteful 

 species possessed two forms of mimetic female, both re- 

 sembling Danainae — one Limnas chrysipp7ts and the 

 other the black and white species of A mauris. 

 1 Trans. Ent. Soc, Lond., 1902, p. 469. 



