Examples of Mimicry 



There is, indeed, a whole group of these clear- 

 winged moths, resembling bees, wasps, and other 

 stinging hymenoptera. The common Indian 

 Danaid butterfly, Danais chrysippus, is marvel- 

 lously reproduced by the female of Hypolimnas 

 misippus, a form allied to our Purple Emperor. 

 The male of this is black, with white blue- 

 bordered patches, the female chestnut, edged 

 with black and with white spots at the tips of 

 the wings, as in the Danais. Finn has shown 

 experimentally that this species is liked by 

 birds. 



Another common Indian Danaid (D. limniace), 

 black, spotted with pale green, is imitated, though 

 not very closely, by the female of one of the 

 " white " group, Nepheronia hippia. Finn found 

 that this insect was eaten freely by birds, and 

 that the common jungle-babbler (Crateropus 

 canorus) was deceived by the mimicry of the 

 female. The very nauseous Indian swallow-tail 

 (Papilio aristolochice) is closely imitated by another 

 swallow-tail (P. polites], both having black wings 

 marked with red and white ; P. aristolochice, 

 however, has a red abdomen. This difference 

 was not noticed by two species of Drongo-shrikes 

 (Dicrurus ater and Dissemurus paradiseus), to 

 which the butterflies were offered ; but the Pekin 

 robin (Liothrix luteus) a very intelligent little 

 bird did not fail to pick out and eat the mimic, 

 though it was deceived by the marvellously 



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