Before giving some account of the numerous other cases of warning colours and of mimicry that occur in the animal kingdom, it will be well to notice a curious phenomenon which long puzzled entomologists, but which has at length received a satisfactory explanation.
We have hitherto considered, that mimicry could only occur when a comparatively scarce and much persecuted species obtained protection by its close external resemblance to a much more abundant uneatable species inhabiting its own district; and this rule undoubtedly prevails among the great majority of mimicking species all over the world. But Mr. Bates also found a number of pairs of species of different genera of Heliconidae, which resembled each other quite as closely as did the other mimicking species he has described; and since all these insects appear to be equally protected by their inedibility, and to be equally free from persecution, it was not easy to see why this curious resemblance existed, or how it had been brought about. That it is not due to close affinity is shown by the fact that the resemblance occurs most frequently between the two distinct sub-families into which (as Mr. Bates first pointed out) the Heliconidae are naturally divided on account of very important structural differences. One of these sub-families (the true Heliconinae) consists of two genera only, Heliconius and Eueides, the other (the Danaoid Heliconinae) of no less than sixteen genera; and, in the instances of mimicry we are now discussing, one of the pairs or triplets that resemble each other is usually a species of the large and handsome genus Heliconius, the others being species of the genera Mechanitis, Melinaea, or Tithorea, though several species of other Danaoid genera also imitate each other. The following lists will give some idea of the number of these curious imitative forms, and of their presence in every part of the Neotropical area. The bracketed species are those that resemble each other so closely that the difference is not perceptible when they are on the wing.
In the Lower Amazon region are found—
{ Heliconius sylvana.
{ Melinaea egina.
{ Heliconius numata.
{ Melinaea mneme.
{ Tithorea harmonia.
{ Methona psidii.
{ Thyridia ino.
{ Ceratina ninonia.
{ Melinaea mnasias.
In Central America are found—
{ Heliconius zuleika.
Nicaragua { Melinaea hezia.
{ Mechanitis sp.
{ Heliconius formosus.
{ Tithorea penthias.
Guatemala { Heliconius telchina.
{ Melinaea imitata.
In the Upper Amazon region—
{ Heliconius pardalinus.
{ Melinaea pardalis.
{ Heliconius aurora.
{ Melinaea lucifer.
In New Grenada—
{ Heliconius ismenius.
{ Melinaea messatis.
{ Heliconius messene.
{ Melinaea mesenina.
{ (?) Mechanitis sp.
{ Heliconius hecalesia.
{ Tithorea hecalesina.
{ Heliconius hecuba.
{ Tithorea bonplandi.