KHOPALOCERA. 
29 
the Fapilioninm have a powerful sustained flight, and some soar to a 
considerable elevation. For habitual high flight certain groups of 
NympJialincej represented by the genera Mor])]io and Cliaraxes^ are most 
noticeable, those of the latter group being also immensely rapid on 
the wing. The males are in all butterflies the stronger and more 
frequent flyers ; but this difierence is less pronounced in the Nymplia- 
lince than in the other divisions. In South America, as Mr. Bates and 
Mr. Wallace inform us, the males of many Nymphalinm and Pierincc 
congregate in sunny open places in the forenoon, while the females 
remain retired in the forests, to which the males resort in the afternoon. 
In the South African woods I have noticed that the fine pale-yellow 
males of Papilio Cenea follow a set course during all the forenoon, 
sometimes sporting with each other, or stopping on their way to visit 
flowers, but not diverging far from the circular track they pursue. 
The females, however, keep near the ground and fly but slowly, often, 
too, remaining motionless for a long time in some shady spot.-^ Colonel 
Bowker and Mr. W. D. Gooch have noticed the same habits in the 
grand Papilio 0]jJiidice2Jhalus. The males of many butterflies are very 
combative, not only in rivalry with those of their own species, but with 
members of wholly different families. I have observed this chiefly 
with members of the Nymjplialince, Lycmnidm^ and Hesperidce ; and it 
has often amused me to see a pugnacious little " Copper " or Skipper " 
take up his station on some tall flower, and persistently drive off" all 
other visitors. Having no offensive weapons, butterflies' encounters 
do not lead to more serious results than the impairing of their beauty 
to a small extent ; but they sometimes show much pertinacity in their 
conflicts. Captain Harford sent me, through Colonel Bowker, in i 879, 
two males (differently coloured) of Acrcea Encedon^ which he had 
observed struggling together on the ground for a long time ; and Mrs. 
Barber informs me that even the females of Acrcea Horta contest with 
much fury the possession of a leaf on which to deposit their eggs. 
From certain observations of Colonel Bowker in 1882 at D'Urban, 
Natal, on the Diadema MisippuSy it appears that this determined 
defence by the male of a particular station is in some cases due to the 
fact of there being in the immediate vicinity the chrysalis of a female 
just about to disclose the perfect insect ; and this is confirmed by Mr. 
W. H. Edwards' notes on Heliconia Charitonia in the Southern United 
States, and the Kev. W. D. Cowan's on Papilio Dcmolcus in Mada- 
gascar.^ 
The carriage of the wings when at rest varies a good deal among 
butterflies, and is not always the same during a mere temporary sus- 
pension of activity and during prolonged repose. The erect position 
of all four wings is the most general, and prevails among the Nym- 
^ Mr. J. P. Mansel Weale notes {Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1873, p. 132) that in the later 
afternoon the females show themselves more, and are then hotly pursued by the rival males. 
- See Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1882, p. iv. 
