248 DARWINISM chap. 



feeding-places, those of the two genera Danais and Aci 



•;c;i 



were never among them. 



The two groups of the great genus Papilio (the true swallow- 

 tailed butterflies) which have been already referred to as 

 having the special characteristics of uneatable insects, have also 

 their imitators in other groups ; and thus, the belief in 

 their inedibility — derived mainly from their style of warning 

 coloration and their peculiar habits — is confirmed. In South 

 America, several species of the " .^Eneas " group of these 

 butterflies are mimicked by Pieridse and by day-flying moths 

 of the genera Castnia and Pericopis. In the East, Papilio 

 hector, P. diphilus, and P. liris, all belonging to the inedible 

 group, are mimicked by the females of other species of Papilio 

 belonging to very distinct groups ; while in Northern India 

 and China, many fine day -flying moths (Epicopeia) have ac- 

 quired the strange forms and peculiar colours of some of the 

 large inedible Papilios of the same regions. 



In North America, the large and handsome Danais 

 archippus, with rich reddish-brown wings, is very common ; 

 and it is closely imitated by Limenitis misippus, a butterfly 

 allied to our "white admiral," but which has acquired a colour 

 quite distinct from that of the great bulk of its allies. In 

 the same country there is a still more interesting case. The 

 beautiful dark bronzy green butterfly, Papilio philenor, is 

 inedible both in larva and perfect insect, and it is mimicked 

 by the equally dark Limenitis Ursula. There is also in the 

 Southern and Western States a dark female form of the yellow 

 Papilio turnus, which in all probability obtains protection from 

 its general resemblance to P. philenor. Mr. W. H. Edwards 

 has found, by extensive experiment, that both the dark and 

 yellow females produce their own kinds, with very few excep- 

 tions ; and he thinks that the dark form has the advantage in 

 the more open regions and in the prairies, where insectivorous 

 birds abound. But in open country the dark form would 

 be quite as conspicuous as the yellow form, if not more so, 

 so that the resemblance to an inedible species would be there 

 more needed. 1 



The only probable case of mimicry in this country is that 

 of the moth, Diaphora mendica, whose female only is white, 

 1 Edwards's Butterflies of North America, second series, part vi. 



