MIMETIC ASSOCIATIONS 



6i 



HYPOLIMNAS DUBIUS. 



P. de Beauvois, Ins. Afr. et Amer., p. 238, 

 pi. 6, f. 2a, 2b (1805). 

 var. Cerberus. 



Aurivillius, Ent. Tidskr., xv, p. 281 (1894). 



— Metamorph., 1. c, p. 282, pi. 4, f. 4, 4a, 4b 

 (1894). 



var. damoclina. 



Trimen, Trans. Linn. Soc, xxvi, p. 505 (note) 

 (1869). 

 var. mima. 



Trimen, 1. c, p. 506 (note), pi. 43, f. 7 (1869). 



— S. Af. Butt., i, p. 284 (1887). 

 var. drucei. 



Butler.Trans. Ent. Soc, p. 426, pi. 6, f. 3(1874). 

 Boisduval {dubius), Faune. Mad., p. 40 (1833). 

 Mabille (lutescens), Hist. Mad. Lep., i, p. 162, 



pi. 18, ff. 8, 9 (1885-7). 

 ab. bewsheri. 



Butler, An. N. H. (5), iii, p. 187 (1879). 

 Mabille {drucei), Hist. Mad. Lep., i, p. 160, 



pi. i8a, ff. 5, 6 (1885-7). 



var. anthedon. 



Doubleday, An. N. H., xvi, p. 181 (1845). 



— Gen. D. Lep., pi. 37, f. 2 (1850). 

 var. wahlbergi. 



Wallengren, Rhop. Caffr., p. 27 (1857). 

 Trimen, S. Af. Butt., i, p. 282, pi. 6, f. 2 

 (1887). 



— {anthedon), Rhop. Af. Austr., p. 152 (1862). 



— Trans. Linn. Soc, xxvi, p. 511 (note) (1869). 

 Butler {marginalis), An. N. H. (4), xvi, p. 395 



(1875). 



Swinhoe, Journ. Linn. Soc, xxv,p. 343, pi. 17, 

 f. 3 (1896). 



Weymer {angustolimbata), S. E. Z., liii, p. 87 

 (1892). 



MabUle (var. madagascariensis) , An. E. Belg. 

 25 Bull., p. 55 (1881). 



— Hist. Mad. Lep., i, p. 158, pi. 20a, f. 2 

 (1887). 



Aurivillius, Synonymy, Rhop. Aeth., pp. 149, 

 150, 151 (1898). 



Plate IV, Fig. 18. Plate V, Figs, 5, 6, 12, 15. 



Hypolimnas dubius presents one of the most curious and complicated instances of poly- 

 morphism yet discovered. In most other species which exhibit this feature the phenomenon 

 is confined to the female, except in cases of seasonal dimorphism, and in the peculiar case 

 of Charaxes neanthes and Ch. zoolina, which are now found to be two forms of the same species. 

 Previously to Millar's breeding experiments H. dubius was known to be extremely variable 

 and to produce some six more or less marked varieties. Fig. 15, Plate V, may be taken 

 as nearest to the type form, whilst Fig. 18, Plate IV, is nearest to the form damoclina, Trimen. 

 The specimen I have figured is somewhat unusual in having the pale basal area of the hind- 

 . wing yellowish instead of white, which latter, from an examination of a number of examples, 

 appears to be the more usual colour, as indeed we should expect, since the variety is evidently 

 modified in the direction of Amauris hecate. The form mima, Plate V, Fig. 12, is less modified 

 than other varieties, the principal change being the substitution of yellow for white in the 

 hind-wings, and this, combined vdth the reduction in size of the white spots in both wings, 

 produces a very close approach to Amauris albimaculata and the white spotted forms of 

 A. echeria. The variety cerberus of Aurivillius is characterized by the absence of white in 

 the hind- wing, thus mimicking A. tartar ea, Mab., a species somewhat resembling ^ . hecate, but 

 larger and without the white hind-wing basal area. The varieties drucei and bewsheri are 

 Madagascar forms not greatly differing in appearance from the type. The form anthedon 

 of the west is represented in the east and south by wahlbergi, which with its brilliant irides- 

 cence is one of the most beautiful of African insects. It will be noticed that anthedon, with its 

 broadly suffused dark border in the hind- wing, is modified in the direction oiA. niavius, -whilst 

 the southern wahlbergi, with its narrow black margin, mimics the dominicanus form of the 

 Danaine model. It was in 1897 that Marshall, writing to Professor Poulton (Trans. Ent. Soc, 

 p. 491, 1902), expressed the opinion that mima and wahlbergi were two forms of the same 

 species. He says, ' In my own mind I am pretty well convinced that Euralia mima and 

 wahlbergi are one and the same species which has developed two mimetic forms as in Papilio 



