904 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



" In Ceylon, therefore, if the above statistics are reliable, the ratio 

 between the mimetic and non-mini etic females is one which might be- 

 expected if it be assumed that there is no selection in favour of either 

 of these forms of female ; under these conditions the population is 

 stable in composition and may remain so indefinitely. 



" On the whole question, however, no final conclusions can yet be 

 drawn, for, in the first place, the numbers obtained from the statistics 

 may quite possibly be a coincidence, while in the second the effects of the 

 phenomena discovered in connection with the fertility and mating of 

 the species are quite unknown. Possibly the conclusion which can be 

 drawn with the greatest confidence is that the extraordinary mimicry 

 in the female sex is at present of little importance to the population of 

 the butterfly in Ceylon. (Ibid, p. 250). " 



I have not at present been able to set beside Mr. Fryer's ratios those 

 derived from breeding in other areas but the following evidence, quoted 

 in all cases from the Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., goes far to disprove the general 

 application of the conclusions set forth in the above-quoted paragraphs. 



West slopes of Ashamboo Hills, North-West of Cape Conwrin. In this 

 locality in the extreme south of India, J. Williams Hockin collected 

 (1905-16) 30 males, 1 cyrus female, 12 polyles females, 21 romuhs female, 

 1 female intermediate between the last two. Of the 12 polytes, 4 were 

 stichiiis ■nith no white in the hindwing cell, 4 polytes with conspicuous 

 white, and 4 intermediate. The female intermediate between polytes 

 and romnlus was an interesting form, indistinguishable from some of the 

 forms of theseus, Cramer, from Borneo. As regards the models Mr. 

 Hockin considered Jiector decidedly commoner than aristolochice and 

 indeed the commonest Papilio in the district, aristolochice being second, 

 and polytes third " but-several lengths behind." (1917, Ixxx-lxxxiii.) 



The Ceylonese polytes females, although in a closely adjacent area, 

 are very different in that the stichiiis form is almost unknown while the- 

 hind- wing cell of the great majority is conspicuously white-marked, 

 a fact which, it can hardly be doubted, is related to the abundance in 

 Ceylon as compared with India of forms of aristolochicB with a white 

 cellular spot in the hind wings (Kothsd. and Jord., Nov. Zool., II, 1895, 

 p. 248). 



North Kanara. According to the extensive experience of T. R. Bell, 

 largely derived from breeding, the cynis form is excessively rare ; it 

 was in fact only once obtained and then by capture. Of the two mimetic 

 forms, both abundant, romulus was perhaps the commoner. (1914, 

 xcix-c.) 



Nei^ghbourhood of Madras City. Out of 45 females taken on two 

 days in 1915 by Prof, and Mrs. Fyson, 23 were pokjtes and 22 romulus ; 



