A LIST OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF BORNEO. 175 
tails at the anal angle of the hind-wing.'’ Thus, the enemy’s 
attention is attracted by these showy spots and lght tails, so that 
a dart is made in their direction rather than in the vital region of 
the head or body; but the loss of a portion of the hind-wing is of 
little moment to the butterfly, who thus escapes. The finding of so 
many Theclinae injured in this manner leads to the second part of 
our first conclusion, namely that this kind of Lycaenid is recognized 
among birds and lizards as palatable food, hence the evidence of 
numerous attacks, of which no doubt a certain percentage prove 
fatal. 
(ii) The 1st of our second pair of conclusions suggested is 
that put forward now again by opponents of the Mimicry Theories, 
viz. that butterflies are not attacked thus; there are no injured 
specimens among the Gerydinae because birds and lizards do not 
attack them. W hy then we ask, their beautifully protected colour- 
ing? Are they unpalatable, and so immune from attacks? Again, 
if so, why their sombre colouring and why do we not get con- 
spicuously coloured Gerydinae ? 
The second conclusion suggested by the evidence of the Thec- 
linae, is that they are unpalatable and that their would-be destroyers 
(principally young and inexperienced enemies) on tasting them 
have given up the pursuit because of their unpalatability, thus 
accounting for the number of “ sampled ” specimens noticed.” 
It is altogether beyond the scope of the present paper to go 
into a discussion of this interesting problem, which would involve 
a lengthy review of all the external evidence collected by various 
writers on this and other Families of Rhopalocera in many other 
parts of the world, and it must suffice now to point out that the 
evidence on the whole favours our first pair of conclusions, although 
there are also published records apparently in support of the second 
pair of conclusions. 
But like most of these curious theories, experiments and ob- 
servations are wanted badly, be it either to confute or corroborate ; 
and it is admittedly “up” to those of us who live in the tropics 
to provide the evidence of such experiments and observations. 
1. Fora lucid exposition of this theory see Poulton in Essays on Evolution 
1908. pp. 281-3 and 325; also Shelford, Journ. Str. Br. Roy. As. Soc: No. 35. 
1901. pp. 34, 35; also Marshall, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1902. pt. 353—875 and 
plates IX, X and XI. 
A different conclusion is arrived at by A. Tylor (Colowration of Animals and 
Plants. 1886. p. 22), whose theory is (i) that coloration is primarily dependent 
upon the direct action of light, and (ii) that coloration follows the chief lines 
of structure. He states that ‘‘It is not suggested that the coloration is 
applied to important parts in order to emphasize them, but rather that being 
important parts, they have become naturally the seats of most vivid colour.”’ 
According to the theory of Directive Markings however, the conspicuous 
coloration at the anal angle of the hind-wing in Theclinae has been developed for 
that very purpose, i.e., in order to emphasize them, because they are not important 
parts. Mr. Tylor notes further on, that Natural Selection acts on his fundamental 
theory “‘ by suppressing, or developing, structurally distributed colours.’’ 
2. See note on page 86. 
R. A. Soc., No. 60, I9IT. 
