298 PROCEEDINGS : BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY 
VI. Comparison of the Color-Variations of the Papilios of 
South America with those of the Heliconidae. 
In order to emphasize the peculiarities of the coloration of the 
Heliconidae, I will conclude by instituting a comparison between 
their variations and those of the South American Papilios. There 
are about 200 species of Papilio in South America, and these display 
in all 36 distinct colors. The colors have been determined by 
reference to the plates in Ridgway’s “Nomenclature of color for 
naturalists.” A list of the colors which are displayed by these Papi¬ 
lios has already been given upon page 265. 
By exercising a very fine discrimination in distinguishing color we 
may count 15 distinct colors which are displayed by the 450 mem¬ 
bers of the Danaoid Heliconidae, as follows : black, brown, translu¬ 
cent black, sulphur-yellow, canary-yellow, citron-yellow, primrose- 
yellow, yellow-rufous, reddish rufous, rufous, white, translucent yel¬ 
low, translucent rufous, transparent areas upon the wings, transpar¬ 
ent areas which display iridescence. We see, then, that while the 
200 species of Papilio display 36 different colors, the 450 Danaoid 
Heliconidae exhibit only 15. In other words, the numbers of the 
species and of the colors are almost in inverse ratio in the two 
groups; for while the Papilios are only ^ as numerous as the 
Danaoid Heliconidae, they display almost -U°- times as many colors; 
and this is all the more remarkable when we remember that the gen¬ 
eral class of coloration in the Papilios and Danaoid Heliconidae is 
apparently the same. That is to say, in both groups we find all of 
the species displaying decidedly conspicuous colors, the coloration 
of the upper surfaces of the wings being in both rather more bril¬ 
liant than that of the lower surfaces, but without essential differences 
in color-pattern. Nor is there an attempt in either case at protective 
resemblances, such as the imitation of the coloration of bark, leaves, 
etc. The color-patterns of the Papilios are, moreover, extremely 
complex, and upon comparing the different species, there are seen 
to be frequent fusions and obliterations of the characteristic mark¬ 
ings, so that Haase (’93), avIio has made an extensive study of their 
color-patterns, is forced to divide them into many small groups 
of a few species each. The variation in the form of the wings is 
also very great among the Papilios, for while P. protesilaus pos¬ 
sesses upon its hind wings, long tail-like appendages, the hind 
wings of P. hahneli are rounded off and without marked appendages. 
