344 COL. C. SWINHOE ON MIMICET IN BUXTEEFLIES 



varied changes which occur are explained by this theory, and by 

 no other yet propounded. When we trace Sypolimnas holina 

 from India into Amboina, Sumatra, Ke Island, two islands of 

 the Solomon group, Fiji, Celebes, and various part of Africa, we 

 meet with a different form in each locality, a form which from 

 the biological standpoint may be called the Sypolimnas holina 

 of the locality. That local ctanges should occur may be intel- 

 ligible in many theories, but that they should invariably be in 

 the direction of a superficial resemblance to one butterfly (or in 

 some cases two or more distantly related butterflies) out of 

 the numerous and varied Ehopalocerous fauna of each locality, 

 and that one a specially defended species, well known and 

 avoided by insect-eating animals, is only to be explained by the 

 theory of mimicry, — by the advantages conferred by relatively 

 greater resemblance having acted as a selective test during all 

 the stages of development. The theory of mimicry has received 

 much support by the investigations which have been carried on 

 since Bates propounded it in 1862, but I believe that no evidence 

 is so complete and convincing as that supplied by the genus 

 Hypolimnas. 



Bearing upon the special liahility of female to mimetic 

 resemblances. 



The facts also bear in an interesting manner upon the details 

 as well as upon the general theory. Thus the observation that 

 females are more liable to be defended by mimicry than males, 

 and its explanation (suggested by A. E. Wallace), as due to their 

 " slower flight when laden with eggs, and their exposure to attack 

 while in the act of depositing their eggs upon the leaves," 

 receives further support and confirmation. Among the nume- 

 rous forms of both the misippus and holina group, we meet with 

 no case in which the male is mimetic while the female is non- 

 mimetic: the male of misippus is peculiarly active on the wing, 

 and being able to defend itself in this way, is never mimetic ; 

 the male of the less active holina affords a beautiful transition 

 from the condition met with in misippus to a mimicry as complete 

 as that of the female. In this respect the group is far more 

 interesting than that of P. merope, in which the males are never 

 mimetic. 



