A SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING 53 



tune over seas, and has been found flying bravely 

 five hundred miles from shore. Either by flight or 

 as stowaways in vessels they have pressed eastward 

 to western Europe and westward to the farthest 

 isles of the Paciflc. Well is it named the " Monarch," 

 for it is the most daring and indomitable butterfly that 

 we know, pushing back its geographical boundaries to 

 the very edge of the Arctic zone, and exploring on 

 leisurely and confident wing the seas that wash the 

 shores of the Occident and Orient. 



No wonder the Viceroy chose so splendid a creature 

 to imitate. But I fear there is little noble ambition 

 as a motive to the imitation ; just to keep alive as a 

 species is all. The value of such mimicry seems 

 a part and parcel of the Viceroy's equipment with 

 which to march in the ranks of the fittest. In 

 southern Florida a common butterfly is a species of 

 the bad-tasting family to which the Monarch belongs ; 

 this is a dark mahogany-brown butterfly with no black 

 veins and borders. Therefore, in Florida, our imitative 

 Viceroy doffs his stolen uniform of orange and black 

 and dons another stolen uniform of mahogany-brown. 

 He evidently chooses his liveries for safety and not for 

 their intrinsic beauty; and he is entirely satisfied as 

 long as he successfully masquerades in a guise that 

 shall deceive the keen eyes of the birds of the air. 



