48 GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



It is asserted that these butterflies, although so brilliantly 

 colored and conspicuous, are not fed upon generally by birds 

 and other animals which might use them for food, owing to 

 their possessing a strong odor which renders them distasteful. 

 If this is the case, the distinctive coloration may be an advan- 

 tage rather than otherwise, making it easy for any animal 

 to distinguish them from edible species. The brilliant colors 

 are usually cited as an illustration of warning coloration. 



The Viceroy Butterfly. Another butterfly of an entirely 

 different genus (see p. 95) and without any offensive odor, 

 the viceroy (Basilar'chia archip'pm, Fig. 30), closely resem- 

 bles the monarch. The viceroy belongs to a group of butter- 

 flies whose general body-coloration is blue and white, but 

 instead of the livery of its relatives it wears that of the mon- 

 arch. It offers the best-known illustration in North America 

 of what is called protective mimicry, a term applied to those 

 cases in the animal kingdom in which a group of animals 

 without disagreeable qualities resembles, to a greater or less 

 extent, animals provided with special means of defense. Pro- 

 tective mimicry will be seen to differ from warning coloration 

 in that the fe?n*er is believed to protect an animal by mark- 

 ing it as a source of real danger or unpleasantness; theT#fcter 

 is believed to protect by suggesting characters which have 

 no existence in fact. This explanation of the color of the 

 viceroy has lately been called in question, and observations 

 are wanting to show that the birds of the eastern United 

 States feed generally upon butterflies. Many cases of pro- 

 tective mimicry are known among the butterflies of Africa 

 and South America. By the use of the term it is not meant, 

 of course, that there is anything conscious in the mimicry. 



The White Mountain Butterfly. Another butterfly of the 

 same group is the White Mountain butterfly (CEne'is semid'ea), 

 interesting on account of its peculiar distribution. It is found 

 only on the highest peaks of the White Mountains in New 



