INTERESTING FACTS REGARDING BUTTERFLIES. 



Let me smell the wild white rose, 

 Smell the woodbine and the May; 

 Mark, upon a sunny day, 

 Sated from their blossoms rise, 

 Honey-bees and Butterflies. 



— Jean Ingelow. 



There are found among the Butterflies 

 some of the most remarkable illustrations 

 of protective mimicry. It must not be 

 thought for a moment, however, that this 

 mimicry is a conscious act of a will power 

 residing in the insect. It is the result of 

 a very slow pioeess of development by 

 selection and probably has reached per- 

 fection only after passing through many 

 thousand insect generations and through 

 long ages of time. It is because of this 

 mimicry that many Butterflies are im- 

 mune from the attacks of animal species 

 which would naturally prey upon them. 



This mimicry is well illustrated by 

 Butterflies found in our own country. 

 The common reddish milkweed butterfly, 

 Anosia plexippus, a specimen of which 

 is pictured on an earlier plate in this 

 volume, is an excellent illustration of an 

 amply protected insect. Its secretions 

 are strongly acrid and very distasteful to 

 birds as well as to carnivorous insects. 

 Thus this Butterfly escapes destruction 

 and, multiplying rapidly, they are very 

 common. It is said that it has been car- 

 ried across the Pacific where it has gained 

 a foothold in the warmer portions of 

 Australia. It has also become fairly well 

 established in some localities on the 

 European continent. Because of this 

 freedom from attack, the species of milk- 

 weed Butterflies are mimicked by species 

 belonging to other genera. One of the 

 admiral Butterflies, called the Viceroy 

 (Basilarchia disippus) mimics the Ano- 

 sia plexippus in a most perfect manner 

 both as regards its markings and its col- 

 oring. Its larvae feed upon the leaves of 

 deciduous trees, such as the oaks, birches, 

 willows, and linden. The acrid secretion 

 of the milkweed species is not present in 

 the Viceroy, hence it is protected from 



attacks only by the protective mimicry in 

 its markings, coloration and general 

 form. 



The leaf-butterfly of India and adja- 

 cent regions is one of the most pro- 

 nounced instances of protective imitation. 

 In all the species of leaf-butterflies the 

 wings are closed when the insect is at 

 rest. The coloring of the under surface 

 of the wings very closely resembles the 

 coloring of a dried leaf. The veining of 

 the leaf is also mimicked in the coloring 

 of the wings. And, as if this were not 

 a sufficiently accurate copy of a leaf, dark 

 colored spots may be seen, at times, 

 which closely resemble the patches of 

 fungus growths so frequently seen on 

 leaves. When resting, the leaf-butterflies 

 stand upon a twig in such a manner that 

 the tail of the closed wings rests upon 

 a twig and forms a stalk for the imita- 

 tion leaf. 



There are many other instances of 

 mimicry among the Butterflies, but space 

 will not permit of their consideration at 

 this time. Mimicry is also found in near- 

 ly all classes of animals. It occurs among 

 lizards and snakes and even among 

 the snails. The mimicry may not only 

 be the copying of form and color mark- 

 ings, but it may also be an imitation of 

 habits as well. 



As a rule, the female Butterflies are 

 much duller in color than are the males. 

 Dr. Darwin has claimed that the devel- 

 opment of the more brilliant colors of 

 the male is due to sexual selection, be- 

 cause, as he says, "several males may be 

 seen pursuing the same female." He 

 suggests that the female selects the most 

 brightly colored, thus ignoring plainer 

 males which have gradually disappeared. 

 The duller colors of the female have, 



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