No. 591] NOTES AND LITERATURE 



187 



In the chapter entitled " Mimicry Rings" the author considers 

 the difficulty of explaining the protective value of the minute 

 initial variations in the direction of a model. As an illustra- 

 tion, a group of five superficially similar butterflies in Ceylon is 

 described. This "mimicry ring" includes two hypothetically 

 distasteful Danaines (D. chrysippus and D. plexippus) and the 

 females of three very unlike males (Hypolimnas misippus, Elym- 

 n ins undularis, and Argynnis hyperbius) . The coloration of one 

 of these males (E. undularis) is a. deep purple brown, like that 

 of "satyrs" generally. If this represents the original type from 

 which the gay orange and black pattern of the female has been 

 derived, how has the change come about? Slight initial varia- 

 tions of the Satyr in the direction of the orange Danaine could 

 not possibly be mistaken by birds for the model. The absurdity 

 is pointed out of assuming, on the other hand, that the Danaine 

 was originally like the male Satyr, and acquired its warning 

 coloration pari passu with the mimic, for the Danaine model 

 can hardly have been originally like all of the three very di- 

 versely colored males of the mimicking females. Mutation in 

 each of the three types, however, may have produced females 

 so similar to the Danaine as to be mistakable for it, and if nat- 

 ural selection indeed operates in this case, it may act in "putting 

 on the finishing touches," or in preventing regression. 



In the two following chapters the author discusses the resem- 

 blance of two of the three varieties of female Papilio polytes to 

 the two "poison-eating" Papilios of India and Ceylon, P. aristo- 

 lochm and P. hector. As is well-known, Punnett 6 has himself 

 studied in Ceylon the behavior of these species, and Freyer 7 has 

 continued the work, making extensive breeding experiments on 

 the polymorphic "mimic." 



A study of the geographical distribution in this case shows a 

 general correspondence between the range of each mimic and its 

 model, but notable differences are discovered. 8 Regarding the 

 value of the resemblance between mimic and model, Punnett 

 had no difficulty in distinguishing between model and mimic on 

 the wing, even at a distance of forty to fifty yards, while near 

 at hand the brilliant scarlet of both models, which covers the 

 body and is conspicuous in spots upon the wings, is seen to be 

 very different from the softer red found upon the wings (not 



6 "Spolia Zeylanica," Vol. 7, Part 25, 1910. 



7 Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, London, Vol. 204, 1913. 



8 Vide: Lutz, American Naturalist, Vol. 45, p. 190, 1911. 



