favourable time of year it would prove exceedingly rich; but it was
now the rainy season, when, in the very best of localities, insects are
always scarce, and there being no fruit on the trees, there was also a
scarcity of birds. During a month's collecting, I added only three or
four new species to my list of birds, although I obtained very fine
specimens of many which were rare and interesting. In butterflies I was
rather more successful, obtaining several fine species quite new to me,
and a considerable number of very rare and beautiful insects. I will
give here some account of two species of butterflies, which, though
very common in collections, present us with peculiarities of the highest
interest.
The first is the handsome Papilio memnon, a splendid butterfly of a deep
black colour, dotted over with lines and groups of scales of a clear
ashy blue. Its wings are five inches in expanse, and the hind wings
are rounded, with scalloped edges. This applies to the males; but
the females are very different, and vary so much that they were once
supposed to form several distinct species. They may be divided into two
groups--those which resemble the male in shape, and, those which differ
entirely from him in the outline of the wings. The first vary much in
colour, being often nearly white with dusky yellow and red markings, but
such differences often occur in butterflies. The second group are much
more extraordinary, and would never be supposed to be the same insect,
since the hind wings are lengthened out into large spoon-shaped tails,
no rudiment of which is ever to be perceived in the males or in the
ordinary form of females. These tailed females are never of the dark
and blue-glossed tints which prevail in the male and often occur in the
females of the same form, but are invariably ornamented with stripes and
patches of white or buff, occupying the larger part of the surface of
the hind wings. This peculiarity of colouring led me to discover that
this extraordinary female closely resembles (when flying) another
butterfly of the same genus but of a different group (Papilio coon), and
that we have here a case of mimicry similar to those so well illustrated
and explained by Mr. Bates.[ Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 495;
"Naturalist on the Amazons," vol. i. p. 290.]
That the resemblance is not accidental is sufficiently proved by the
fact, that in the North of India, where Papilio coon is replaced by an
allied form, (Papilio Doubledayi) having red spots in place of yellow,
a closely-allied species or variety of Papilio memnon (P. androgeus)
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