BRIEFER ARTICLES. 
Mimicry of fungi in insects.—It has long been known to botanists 
as well as entomologists that certain butterflies belonging to the genus 
Kallima, although the upper surface of their wings is brilliantly col- 
ored, have the under surface of a dull gray or grayish-brown color. 
A large species often seen in museums, Kal/ima IJnachis, always ex- 
cites admiration when mounted with the wings expanded, from the 
beautiful and intense blue color of the upper surface. When speci- 
mens of this species are mounted so as to show the insect resting on a 
twig with the wings closely overlapping, the resemblance to a dead 
leaf attached to the twig is something astonishing. The color is pre- 
cisely that of a dead leaf and the outline is that of a leaf, for at the 
lower angle of the wings, they are suddenly narrowed so as to form, 
in the resting position, a remarkable resemblance to a petiole. Al- 
though this mimicry of a leaf is well known, I do not remember to 
have seen it stated that the mimicry is carried still farther. Recently 
I was shown some specimens of Kadima Jnaciis from India which 
had been mounted on plaster by Mr. W. D. Denton. To show how 
great is the resemblance to a leaf I may say that the first tablet shown 
was only a few feet from me and I innocently asked why a leaf was 
mounted with the butterfly; whether it was intended to show the plant 
it lived upon. To my mortification Mr. Denton said that there was 
no leaf there; that the tablet showed only the insect in its expanded 
and its resting postures. On examining the insect more closely, I no- 
ticed that the “leaf” appeared to be attacked by a species of Me/iola 
and, on turning the specimen so that the light fell obliquely upon it, 
I noticed patches of a dull olive green color resembling closely the 
appearance of a leaf on which is growing the young stage of a Striguda. 
In short, the mimicry was carried so far that there was not only an 
admirable imitation of a leaf but also a mimicry of the parasites which 
infest leaves in a region like that of which the Kallima is a native. 
On comparing several specimens, one could see that the Spots which 
mimicked parasites were not identical on different individuals but, 
while there was a general similarity in all, there was just such a diver- 
sity in the disposition and intensity of the spots as one would have 
expected if he had had before him real leaves attacked by parasites 
like Meliola and Striguia. Mr. Scudder informs me that entomolo- 
gists had noticed the spots on the lower surface of the wings of Kal- 
lima and also the fact that their position varied with the individual. 
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