86 MIMICRY IN EAST AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES 
families, and though in the case of the two Acraeas and the 
Mimacraea the mimics are remarkably smaller than the models 
the mimetic connexion can hardly be doubted. But this is 
not all, for there are other butterflies of the genera Euryphene 
and Euphaedra in which the females at any rate are very like 
L. chrysippus as well as some day-flying moths, but here the 
interpretation is rather more doubtful, because these species 
differ somewhat widely from the model in habits and mode of 
flight. The fact is that it is characteristic of mimicry all the 
world over to occur in large associations composed of several 
different species and not simply in pairs, and it is probable that 
it is advantageous to all the members that the peculiar pattern 
should have a wide advertisement, so to speak, so that it may 
be the more readily recognised and more quickly learnt by 
young inexperienced foes. Limnas chrysippus is one of these 
species which is the model for mimicry wherever it occurs, and 
even in Africa there are well-known mimics which have never 
been recorded from this Protectorate. The most remarkable 
of these is Pseudacraea poggei in which the resemblance is almost 
closer than in the case cf PLypolimnas misippus. It is probable 
that some of the day-flying moths are associated with Euphaedra 
eleus, which I took once at Rabai, in an association subsidiary 
to the main association, and that they gain advantage from 
their mutual resemblance as well as from their resemblance, 
which is palpable though not exact, to the better known and 
more widely distributed species. It should be remarked that 
most of the mimics of this group resemble the type form with 
the black and white tip only, and that these which have 
varieties corresponding to those of the model are not so 
numerous and have only been found in Africa. 
The next great group which is very abundant in our country 
is even more complex than the L. chrysippus group. The 
original models, for there are two, are species of the African 
genus Amauris, another genus of the great family Danaidae, 
also known to be highly distasteful. These are Amauris 
dominicanus, the eastern form of Amauris niavius, and Amauris 
ochlea. In experimenting with spiders these Danaidae were 
the only species which were rejected, although I tried other 
well-known distasteful forms including several species of 
