PROTECTIVE MIMICRY 235 



black in the female. In Africa a Swallow-tailed 

 Butterfly (Papilio merope) occurs, of which the male 

 is represented in fig. 1 ; the female, on the other 

 hand, is without the ' tails ' on the hind wings, and 

 presents a totally different appearance from the male ; 

 it occurs in three different varieties, each of which 

 mimics a different species of Danais prevalent in its 

 district. 



Fig. 3 A represents Danais echeria, a specially pro- 

 tected butterfly, common in South Africa, and rendered 

 conspicuous by light brown and white patches and spots 

 upon a black ground. The appearance of the female 

 P. merope (the P. cenea form) in the same locality is 

 shown in fig. 3. It is very interesting to find that 

 D. echeria is also mimicked by two other species of 

 Swallow-tail and by another butterfly (Diadema mima). 

 In Natal the ordinary form of the Danais is replaced 

 by a variety in which the spots on the fore wings are 

 white instead of ochreous. In Natal the female P. 

 merope undergoes a corresponding change, and inter- 

 mDdiate varieties of both mimic and mimicked are also 

 found. 



The appearance of another unpalatable butterfly, 

 Danais niavius, is shown in fig. 4A. This conspicuous 

 black and white butterfly is abundant in tropical 

 Western Africa, and it is very faithfully imitated by 

 two other butterflies in the same locality, a Diadema 

 and a form of the female of Papilio merope (the P. 

 hippocoon form), shown in fig. 4. This is the ex- 



