564 INSECTS ABROAD. 



pletely deceived the Dutch entomologist De Haan, and he 

 accordingly classed them as the same species ! 



"But the most curious fact connected with these distinct 

 forms is, that they are both the offspring of either form. A 

 single brood of larvae were bred in Java by a Dutch entomo- 

 logist, and produced males as well as tailed and tailless females, 

 and there is every reason to believe that this is always the case, 

 and that forms intermediate in character never occur. 



" To illustrate these phenomena, let us suppose a roaming 

 Englishman in some remote island to have two wives — one a 

 black-haired, red-skinned Indian, the other a woolly-headed 

 sooty-skinned negress ; and that, instead of the children being 

 mulattoes of brown or dusky tints, mingling the characteristics 

 of each parent in varying degrees, all the boys should be as fair- 

 skinned and blue-eyed as their father, while the girls should 

 altogether resemble their mothers. This would be thought 

 strange enough, but the case of these Butterflies is yet more 

 extraordinary, for each mother is capable not only of producing 

 male offspring like the father, and female like herself, but also 

 other females like her fellow-wife, and altogether differing from 

 herself." 



This is certainly one of the most remarkable points in the 

 history of Butterflies, and why some females should so closely 

 imitate the male form is a problem not easy of solution. 



The larva of the Memnon is a large dark-green caterpillar, 

 much humped on the shoulder, and being marked with some 

 pale-brown bands, and a red streak just in front of the hump. 

 It tapers gradually from the hump to the tail, and rapidly from 

 the hump to the head, so that it has very much the aspect of a 

 caterpillar of some Hawk Moth. 



The pupa is pale green, patched and streaked with yellow, 

 and is suspended to a twig by a ligature at the tail and a 

 belt surrounding the body. 



Like many other insects, the Memnon is subject to consider- 

 able variations in colour. There is one very curious example of 

 a tailed female in the British Museum. The upper wings are 

 brown, on which a pattern is traced by the black nervures. The 

 lower wings are black, with white oval patches on the base, and 

 buff spots on the inner margin. 



