RHOPALOCERA. 29 



the Papilionince have a powerful sustained flight, and some soar to a 

 considerable elevation. For habitual high flight certain groups of 

 NymplialincG, represented by the genera Morplio and Clmraxes, are most 

 noticeable, those of the latter group being also immensely rapid on 

 the wing. The males are in all butterflies the stronger and more 

 frequent flyers ; but this difierence is less pronounced in the Nympha- 

 lincB than in the other divisions. In South America, as Mr. Bates and 

 Mr. Wallace inform us, the males of many Nymphalinoe and Pierince 

 congregate in sunny open places in the forenoon, while the females 

 remain retired in the forests, to which the males resort in the afternoon. 

 In the South African woods I have noticed that the fine pale-yellow 

 males of Papilio Cenea follow a set course during all the forenoon, 

 sometimes sporting with each other, or stopping on their way to visit 

 flowers, but not diverging far from the circular track they pursue. 

 The females, however, keep near the ground and fly but slowly, often, 

 too, remaining motionless for a long time in some shady spot.-"- Colonel 

 Bowker and Mr. W. D. Gooch have noticed the same habits in the 

 grand Pajpilio opMdiccphalus. The males of many butterflies are very 

 combative, not only in rivalry with those of their own species, but with 

 members of wholly diflerent families. I have observed this chiefly 

 with members of the Nymplialinm, Lycmnidcc, and Hcsperidce ; and it 

 has often amused me to see a pugnacious little " Copper " or " Skipper " 

 take up his station on some tall flower, and persistently drive ofi" all 

 other visitors. Having no offensive weapons, butterflies' encounters 

 do not lead to more serious results than the impairing of their beauty 

 to a small extent ; but they sometimes show much pertinacity in their 

 conflicts. Captain Harford sent me, through Colonel Bowker, in 1 879, 

 two males (differently coloured) of Acrma Encedon, which he had 

 observed struggling together on the ground for a long time ; and Mrs. 

 Barber informs me that even the females of Acrcca Horta contest with 

 much fury the possession of a leaf on which to deposit their eggs. 

 From certain observations of Colonel Bowker in 1882 at D'Urban, 

 Natal, on the Biadmia Misippus, it appears that this determined 

 defence by the male of a particular station is in some cases due to the 

 fact of there being in the immediate vicinity the chrysalis of a female 

 just about to disclose the perfect insect ; and this is confirmed by Mr. 

 W. H. Edwards' notes on Hdiconia Charitonia in the Southern United 

 States, and the Rev. W. D. Cowan's on Papilio Demolcus in Mada- 

 gascar.^ 



The carriage of the wings when at rest varies a good deal among 

 butterflies, and is not always the same during a mere temporary sus- 

 pension of activity and during prolonged repose. The erect position 

 of all four wings is the most general, and prevails among the Nym- 



^ Mr. J. P. Mansel Weale notes {Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1873, p. 132) that in the later 

 afternoon the females show themselves more, and are then hotly pursued by the rival males. 

 - See Proc. Ent, Soc. Lond., 1882, p. iv. 



