Botany and Zoology. 299 
A full series of such imitations by insects, both of inanimate and of living 
objects, is then given. That such imitative resemblances as we are con- 
sidering are of the same class as these, and subject to the same explana- 
tion, is obvious from the fact of one species mimicking an inanimate 
creatures that possess them.” op ses maintains its hold upon 
existence only through some re en enabling it to withstand the 
various adverse circumstances to which it is exposed ; and the means are 
re re) 
animals. Mr. Bates never saw them preyed u ie} birds or Dragon-flies, 
or molested by Lizards when at rest; and — e ies set out to 
dry were ies attacked by vermin. They all have a peculiar smell. 
So it is probable that they are unpalatable to insect enemies “Tf the 
owe their Pima existence ip this gk it would be intelligible why 
the Leptalide, whose scanty number of individuals reveals a less pro- 
tected condition, should be feed | in ape dress and thus share their 
immunity, 
This naturally leads to Mr. Bates’ explanation of the process by whi ch 
these mimetic resemblances and other such adaptations are brought 
about. The adotirer pe natural selection finds here a beautiful application 
of the pede Given the Heliconide as they are, segregated and i 
course of ti jn 0 variations, varieties, and species under 
ae aie of their more ex nalogues, in each Lonatity, a 
m to depend upon the closeness st their resemblance to the pr 
Heliconider of the district, such resemblance being apparently heed only 
ies vary from place to place, so must the imitators if they 
would retain their hold upon life. And, of all the variations which are 
constantly arising, only those which do resemble the protected form near 
enough to deceive the insectivorous enemy, will retain their hold, This 
is ie eatntal selection, the insectivorous animals being the selecting agents ; 
and the operation s to draw out steadily, in certain favorable 
directions, the suitable variations which arise from generation to genera- 
n, as a result of the extermination of those sorts or varieties which 
are not enough like the _——- species to deceive the enemy. 
some of its ust be more 
ey tat laaees of the shied mimicked. According therefore to the 
closeness of its persecution by enemies, who seek the imitator but avoid the 
imitated, will be its enaame to become an exact counterfeit,—the less perfect 
degrees of resemblance being, generation after generation, eliminated, and 
only the others left to propagate their kind.” “The fact of one of the forms 
Am. Jour. 8c1.—Seconp Series, Vou. XXXVI, No. 107.—Sepr., 1863. 
37 
