April 1, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



439 



piafe) are mimicked by members of their 

 own subfamily, by Satyringe, Heliconiinse, 

 Nymphalinse, Erycinidse, Pierinse and Pa- 

 piliouinse ; (2) a few Morphinse by Papilio- 

 ninse; (3) HeliconiinEe by Pierinte ; (4) 

 Acrseinse by JSTymphalinse, Lycffinidfe, Pieri- 

 nse, and Papilioninae; (5) some Nympha- 

 linse, by members of their own subfamily ; 

 (6) Pierinse by species of their own sub- 

 family, and very rarely by Satyrinse ; * 

 and (7) Papilioninse by members of their 

 own subfamily and by cei-tain Pierinse. 



The next series is composed of those 

 comparatively few instances where (&) 

 Rhopalocera are imitated by Heterocera ; 

 and here it is found that (1) Danainse (true, 

 and Neotropinse) are mimicked by Cast- 

 niidse, Chalcosiidse (three different genera); 

 Arctiidse (two different genera), Dioptidse 

 (three diiferent genera), and Geometrse 

 (two different genera) ; (2) a few Acrseinse 

 by Melameridse (two different genei-a) ; (3) 

 Papilioninse by Castniidse, Chalcosiidse, and 

 Arctiidse. f Much rarer are the known 

 cases of (c) mimicry of Heterocera by 

 Ehopalocera ; but (1) certain Uraniidse are 

 simulated by Papilioninse ; (2) Agaristidse 

 by ISTymphalinse ; and (3) Lithosiidse by 

 Nymphalinse. The mimicry of (d) Heter- 

 ocera by Heterocera seems also to have 



* In the Oriental region Delias is mimicked by 

 Pi-ioneris and Pieris, and in the Ethiopian region 

 Mylothris by Pieris and Eronia. An interesting case 

 in support of the probable distastefnlness of Mylothris 

 is found in Madagascar, where the abundant 31. 

 phileris is mimiclced by the very scarce Elymnias 

 masoura, a Satyrine which is extremely divergent in 

 coloring from all linown members of its genus and 

 subfamily. 



t Col. Swinhoe informs me that the Pierine 

 Teracolus Umbaius — ' the southern form of 2'. etrida ' 

 — is accurately mimicked by the Geometrid moth, 

 Abraxas etridoides. This case seems to support Col. 

 Swinhoe's opinion (Proc. Ent. Soo. Lond., 1897, p. 

 xxxvii.) that the species of Teracolus are inedible. I 

 have noted (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1894, p. 21) 

 another instance of marked resemblance to the fe- 

 males of the smaller East African Teracoli in the 

 Satyrine, Physcieneura pione. 



been but seldom observed, but the cases 

 recorded consist of (1) Agaristidse by Lipa- 

 ridse ; (2) Melameridse by Chalcosiidse ; (3) 

 Geometridse by Uraniidse and Chalcosiidse, 

 and (4) Lithosiidse by Agaristidse.* 



It will be seen that the foregoing enu- 

 meration includes not only the Batesian 

 mimicries, but also those coming under the 

 category of Miillerian associations of dis- 

 tasteful forms. To the latter class belong 

 all cases occurring within the limits of the 

 subfamilies Danainse, Heliconiinse and 

 Acrseinse, and also many of those existing 

 between species of one or more of those 

 groups and certain Pierinse and Papilio- 

 ninse, as well as (among moths) the Agar- 

 istidse, some Lithosiidse, and very probably 

 others. It seems clear that, in the same 

 circle of various species all approximating 

 with more or less accuracy to one special 

 type of coloration, marking and outline, 

 there will often be found, in the larger and 

 more comprehensive of such associations, 

 both Batesian and Miillerian mimicries ; 

 this is, indeed, distinctly to be gathered 

 from some of the cases tabulated by Bates 

 himself, and has been lately well illustrated 

 in the exceptionally rich Neotropical series 

 of ' homoeochromatic ' forms brought before 

 us by Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, among 

 which were several of the actual specimens 

 figured by Bates in illustrating his famous 

 memoir. In the scarcely less opulent 



* There is some ground for suspecting Acheronda 

 atropos to be a protected species. It has an apparent 

 mimicker in Africa — its natural habitat — in the shape 

 of another Sphingid of almost equal size, Protoparce 

 solani, which, when seen at rest on tree trunks, I 

 have, on more than one occasion, mistaken for the 

 Death's Head. I do not know if any experiments as 

 to the distastefnlness of Acherontia have been made ; 

 but I incline to the belief that, if this moth is 

 shunned by any insectivorous animals, such avoid- 

 ance is more likely to be due to its squeaking powers 

 and its threatening gesture, when irritated or 

 alarmed, of suddenly elevating the robust and spiny 

 fore legs. I know of no other moth that assumes 

 this menacing attitude. 



