On the Mimetic Forms of certain Butterflies. 47 



February 23, 1893. 



Sir JOHN EVANS, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., Vice-President and 

 Treasurer, in the Chair. 



A List of the Presents received was laid on the table, and thanks 

 ordered for them. 



The following Papers were read : — 



I. " On the Mimetic Forms of certain Butterflies of the Genus 

 Hypolimnas" By Colonel C. SwiNHOE, M.A. Communi- 

 cated by Professor E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. Received 

 January 28, 1893. 



(Abstract.) 



The object of this investigation is to study the changes undergone 

 by the species of a small group of Butterflies as they are traced from 

 one locality to another, and to ascertain the bearing of these facts 

 upon the theory of mimicry. 



We find the representatives of the Indian Hypolimnas bolina 

 in a long list of localities in Malaya, Polynesia, and Africa : the 

 local representatives differ from each other and from the Indian form, 

 but they agree in possessing in one or both sexes a more or less 

 superficial resemblance to some conspicuous species belonging to a 

 specially defended group and inhabiting the same locality ; the same 

 is true of the three forms of the female of Hypolimnas misippus. 



The facts afford the most convincing evidence of the truth of the 

 theory of mimicry enunciated by H. W. Bates. 



The study of these numerous but closely-related forms belonging 

 to the genus Hypolimnas also throws light upon such interesting 

 questions as : — 



(1.) The special liability of the female to become mimetic. 



(2.) The ancestral form from which the various mimetic varieties 

 have been derived. 



(3.) The mimetic resemblance to different species in the same 

 locality. 



(4.) The divergent conditions under which mimicry appears in 

 closely-related species. 



(5.) The relation between selection and variation in the production 

 of mimetic resemblance. 



