NATURAL SELECTION 



published in the Transactions of the Linncean Society for 1868, 

 gives a list of no less than sixteen species and varieties of 

 Diadema and its allies, and ten of Papilio, which in their 

 colour and markings are perfect mimics of species or varieties 

 of Danais or Acrsea which inhabit the same districts. 



Passing on to India, we have Danais tytia, a butterfly 

 with semi-transparent bluish wings and a border of rich 

 reddish brown. This remarkable style of colouring is exactly 

 reproduced in Papilio agestor and in Diadema nama, and all 

 three insects not unfrequently come together in collections 

 made at Darjeeling. In the Philippine Islands the large and 

 curious Idea leuconoe, with its semi-transparent white wings, 

 veined and spotted with black, is copied by the rare Papilio 

 idseoides from the same islands. 



In the Malay archipelago the very common and beautiful 

 Euplsea midamus is so exactly mimicked by two rare Papilios 

 (P. paradoxa and P. senigma) that I generally caught them 

 under the impression that they were the more common 

 species ; and the equally common and even more beautiful 

 Euplsea rhadamanthus, with its pure white bands and spots 

 on a ground of glossy blue and black, is reproduced in the 

 Papilio caunus. Here also there are species of Diadema 

 imitating the same group in two or three instances ; but we 

 shall have to adduce these further on in connection with 

 another branch of the subject. 



It has been already mentioned that in South America 

 there is a group of Papilios which have all the characteristics 

 of a protected race, and whose peculiar colours and markings 

 are imitated by other butterflies not so protected. There is 

 just such a group also in the East, having very similar 

 colours and the same habits, and these also are mimicked by 

 other species in the same genus not closely allied to them, 

 and also by a few of other families. Papilio hector, a 

 common Indian butterfly of a rich black colour spotted with 

 crimson, is so closely copied by Papilio romulus that the 

 latter insect has been thought to be its female. A close 

 examination shows, however, that it is essentially different, 

 and belongs to another section of the genus. Papilio 

 antiphus and P. diphilus, black swallow-tailed butterflies with 

 cream-coloured spots, are so well imitated by varieties of P. 



