November 21, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



833 



Philippine Islands. In southern Negros, 

 about a mile south of the little fishing village 

 of Manjuyod, along the sides of the road to 

 Bais, I noticed many of these butterflies; but 

 to my surprise they were frequenting bushes 

 ■whose leaves they in no way resembled. The 

 leaves were bright green, magnolia-like, much 

 larger than the butterflies, perfectly elliptical, 

 glossy, turning bright orange yellow when 

 dead, and falling to the ground. There were 

 no brown leaves, pointed leaves, conspicu- 

 ously veined or fungus-covered leaves in 

 the neighborhood, say within a hundred rods. 

 In this instance I eoidd not help concluding 

 that the dark-colored butterflies were conspicu- 

 ous instead of inconspicuous, as they alighted 

 ■on the leaves and not on the stems of the 

 Iiright green bushes. And I observed the 

 behavior of the butterflies with considerable 

 interest at several favorable stations; their 

 movements and flight reminded me of our 

 Vanessas, more nearly perhaps of Orapta; 

 they could be approached almost within 

 reaching distance and could not be mis- 

 taken generically. I intended, however, to 

 return that way and examine the shrub and 

 collect the insects and if possible their eggs 

 and larvae, but by an unfortunate accident I 

 was obliged to cut short my stay and thus 

 miss my chance. From the behavior of the 

 butterflies, my impression is that they were 

 breeding then and there, and on one leaf of 

 the shrub I noticed a patch of eggs which 

 might well have belonged to Eallima. At 

 that time my faith was strong and I was 

 inclined to believe that the butterflies were 

 migrating or had even for the moment be- 

 come careless as to their surroundings, and 

 I felt that had I looked further afield I might 

 Lave found the leaves which were so admir- 

 ably mimicked. 



For the rest the question is whether it is 

 just for the nattiralist, the preparateur and 

 Kallima to compound such museum prepara- 

 tions as we have above described, on present 

 evidence, t for one would be glad to learn 

 of additional observations, for, like many 

 others, I am not able to repress a suspicion 

 that in some cases (who knows in how many, 

 even perhaps in the case of these classic but- 



terflies?) our idea of the mimicry may be pre- 

 conceived, rather than truthful. The fact that 

 a butterfly looks strikingly like a given dead 

 leaf is no adequate proof that it was evolved 

 in mimicry — it must be proven a mimic in all 

 details. Otherwise it should be kept in limbo 

 with those creatures which to our eyes and to 

 our eyes only suggest natural objects — such 

 creatures as moths with skulls pictured on 

 their backs and Taira-headed crabs.* 



Bashford Dean. 



' ROOT-PRESSURE ' IN" BEGONIA (fLETCHER's 



seedling). 



On July 15, a vigorous Begonia was selected 

 from the greenhouse plants at the Harvard 

 botanic gardens with a view to illustrate, to 

 the students in botany at the summer school, 

 some of the phenomena in connection with 

 the so-called ' root-pressure.' 



The stem of the plant was cut off about 

 three inches above the surface of the soil in 

 the flower-pot, and a flrm rubber tube was 

 flxed to the stump and connected with a glass 

 tube held in a vertical position. A small 

 amount of water — about one cubic centi- 

 meter — was poured in upon the cut end of 

 the stem. The glass tube first attached was 

 about two and a half feet long and the diam- 

 eter of the bore was three millimeters. In 

 twenty-four hours after arranging the experi- 

 ment the sap had ascended to a height of two 

 feet one inch, and in twenty-four hours later 

 the tube was overflowing. Another tube was 

 then added, the connection being made with 

 a short piece of rubber tubing. 



* In the twelfth century the famous sea fight 

 off Dannoura saw the destruction of the dominant 

 Taira family of Japan; it is recorded that up- 

 ward of twenty thousand of this clan and their 

 adherents lost their lives; and their bodies were 

 washed up on the neighboring beaches in wind 

 rows. Each Buddhistic soul, however, was said 

 to have passed into the crab, Dorippe, which to 

 this day retains its imprint. The carapace bears 

 in bas-relief a striking likeness to the face of an 

 Oriental, and the fishennen, in ' proof ' of the 

 accuracy of the legend, point out further details 

 in resemblance — the eyes and mouth are open, 

 and the face is swollen, after the fashion of the 

 drowned ! 



