Excerpt from African Mimetic Butterflies: Being Descriptions and Illustrations of the Principal Known Instances of Mimetic Resemblance in the Rhopalocera of the Ethiopian Region, Together With an Explanation of the Mullerian and Batesian Theories of Mimicry

Over-specialization has been regarded as an evil, if a necessary one, not only in the domain of science, but also in the more commonplace pursuits of everyday life. Never theless, whilst it is given to the few to survey the problems of existence with that broad and responsive comprehension which has characterized the work of some of our greatest intellects, those of a lesser versatility may derive some comfort from the hope that their efforts to study one small point of interest may at least help to furnish a pebble towards the great fabric of truth which is arising out of the conceptions of the master architects of science. At the present time, when evolution is as much the basis of biological investiga tion as is the law of gravity of astronomical research, the study of mimicry has assumed a position of no little importance. Whilst the phenomenon may be regarded as merely a special expression of the value of colours and markings, it yet contains within itself many diverse forms, the common feature of which is their bearing on the struggle for existence, and the support they afford for the principles of organic evolution. The present work suffers from the already mentioned drawback of specialization, in that it deals only with a form of mimetic resemblance which obtains between butterflies of different genera, and that only with those of the Ethiopian region. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the information compiled from many sources will serve on the one hand to evoke a more general interest in a subject which has hitherto been in the hands of comparatively few workers, and on the other to stimulate further investigation which may lead to the elucidation of the many difficulties which still remain unsolved. Those Who are familiar with the classification of butterflies may be inclined to find fault with the amount of space Which has been devoted to purely elementary systematics; but I would remind those to whom such matters are familiar ground, that there are many potential naturalists who are at first attracted merely by the beauty of the objects they are moved to collect, and it is in the desire to provide for these and for the collector abroad all the information necessary to useful investigation that I have endeavoured to make the work complete in this respect. When years ago I became interested in mimetic phenomena, I found that any extensive knowledge of the subject was only to be obtained from a large and costly accumulation of the publications of various scientific societies, whilst familiarity with the appearance of some mimetic forms was, owing to their extreme rarity, a matter of considerable difficulty for the private collector. I have, therefore, endeavoured to compile into one volume the information contained in many publications together with drawings of specimens from several collections, and it is hoped that others may find in the result materials of some interest and a basis for further research.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.