Jan., 1905.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



another butterfly of the evil-tasting group (Amauris 

 cchcria), which is black blotches and spotted with rather 

 dusky yellow. This form is very like another species 



Pninl I) cui'ii rC. Ex S. Africa. 



of Etiralia, which also mimics the A. echeria. Finally, 

 there is a third form of P. cenea female, tawny in 

 colour, marked in black and white in imitation ol 

 Danais chrysippm ; and, as we have seen, the females 

 of Hypolimnas misippus are very perfect mimics of the 

 same species. 



Amaurw dominicanm. Papilio cinea ? . Ex S. Africa 



In regard to the multi-form females of Papilio cenea, 

 it should be pointed out that there exist in Madagascar 

 and Abyssinia closely allied species, the females of 

 which differ very little from the males. Not only have 

 they the same pale yellow and black colouring, but the 

 hind wings preserve the characteristic tails. There is, 

 however, a prominent black bar on the costal margin 

 of the female fore-wing; and it is presumed that this 

 represents the commencement of the darkening, which, 

 in the case of the allied mimetic females, has suffused 

 so large a portion of the wing area, 



The question as to why the females of species closely 

 related to others which are very perfect mimics should 

 have retained tii:_-ir ;m(-ostral form is difficult to answer 



EiiiiiUit(tiillieih,n S and 1. Ex S. Africa. 



satisfactorily. In the absence of contradictory evi- 

 dence, however, it is quite admissible to assume that 

 the life histories of these non-mimetic species have been 

 fraught with less hardship and persecution than fell to 

 the lot of those which have gained the protection of 

 mimicry. In the case of Papilio nuriones, this view is 

 certainly plausible, and is adopted by Professor 

 Poulton. " It requires a very slight exercise of the 

 imagination," he says, " to picture the steps by which 

 these marvellous changes have been produced; for 

 here the new forms have arisen at so recent a date 

 that many of the intermediate stages can still be seen, 

 while the parent form has been preserved unchanged 

 in a friendly land, where the keen struggle of con- 

 tinental areas is unknown." 



The Fourth Interna.tional Ornithological 

 Congress. 



The Fourth International Congress of Ornithologists will be 

 held, as arranged at the previous meeting at Paris in igoo, in 

 London this year, under the presidency of Dr. R. Bowdler 

 Sharpe, the head of the Ornithological Department of the 

 British Museum. It will assemble at the Imperial Institute, 

 South Kensington, on Monday, June 12, and sit until the end 

 of the week, during which, besides the ordinary business, it is 

 proposed that evening meetings and short excursions shall 

 take place. Longer excursions will be made after the close of 

 the meeting. An Organizing Committee has been formed to 

 make the necessary arrangements. 



The Secretaries 'to the Congress will be Dr. Ernest Harterl, 

 of the Zoological Museum, Tring, and Mr. J. L. Bonhote, of 

 Ditton Hall, Cambridgeshire, to whom communications may 

 be addressed. The Treasurer will be Mr. C. E. Fagan, of the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington. It is hoped and 

 expected that many of the leading ornithologists from all part§ 

 of the world will attend the Congress, 



