MIMETIC ASSOCIATIONS 



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It now remains to give some account of the nomenclature of Papilio dardanus and its 

 various subspecies, and to endeavour to reduce to some kind of order the mass of conflicting 

 descriptions which have accumulated round this extraordinary butterfly. 



PAPILIO DARDANUS HUMBLOTI, Oberthiir, Comoro I. 



A primitive form in which the male and female closely resemble one another. The 

 margin of all four wings is black without the broken appearance which characterizes the 

 other forms. Judging by Oberthiir's figures, these marginal bands are somewhat broader 

 and darker in the female than in the male, whilst the black mark in the cell of the fore- wing 

 is more pronounced, and the distal end is very sharply defined. This costal black band is 

 a most important feature, as it forms the ground-work of the ultimate development of 

 the mimetic features in the other forms. Also it is very remarkable that the clear definition 

 of its distal extremity can be traced in practically every other female form. It would seem 

 as though no amount of evolutionary change could cause dark scales to appear for a short 

 distance beyond this point, and the resulting pale area forms one of the most perfectly 

 consistent features throughout the entire race. It is more permanent even than the apical 

 spot which occasionally disappears from some of the more greatly modified varieties. 



PAPILIO DARDANUS MERIONES, Felder ( = hrutus, Boisduval), Madagascar, Pl.X, Fig. i, ?. 



This subspecies is peculiar to Madagascar and has a female resembling the male except 

 for the much greater development of the costal bar already referred to. In the example 

 figured this marking nearly reaches the median nervure, but its distal end continues to be 

 very sharply defined. In twelve examples of both sexes which I have examined there is 

 a tendency in the females to a more ochreous ground-colour than in the male, whilst the 

 dark areas are brown rather than black. The black markings on the male hind- wings are of 

 a somewhat less indeterminate outline than in the same sex of other subspecies, though, owing to 

 great variability, it would be difficult to separate them if mixed with those from other localities. 



PAPILIO DARDANUS ANTINORII, Oberthiir. Abyssinia, Somahland. 



It is in this subspecies that we first find polymorphic forms of the female. The male 

 is characterized by the paucity of black markings on the hind-wings and generally somewhat 

 smaller size. The typical female closely resembles that of meriones, especially in the develop- 

 ment of the costal black bar. All the dark markings are again brown rather than black. 

 To this subspecies belong the curious female forms niavioides, Kheil, Plate X, Fig. 4, and 

 ruspinae, Kheil, Plate X, Fig. 8. 



PAPILIO DARDANUS DARDANUS, Brown { = merope, Cram.). West Coast to Victoria 

 Nyanza {^sulfurea, Palis. BesLUVois = bruhis, Fabricius). 

 In this subspecies the males, which vary within wide limits, are with difficulty distin- 

 guishable from those of other localities. There is no known female resembling the male, 

 but the subspecies produces several mimetic varieties of which the principal are : — 



f. DiONYSOS, Doubl. and Hewitson, Plate X, Fig. 7. 



This, as has already been remarked, is either an intermediate variety or a reversion 

 to some ancestral form. 



f. HiPPOCOON, Fabricius, Plate X, Fig. 5. 



This form mimics Amanris niavius of the west, and it is noticeable that the black 

 margin of the hind- wing is broader than the hippocoon forms of the south and east, just 



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