Dear Sir

I shall be glad to give you any information in my power respecting the sexes of Orgyia antiqua¹   I always separated them in the larval state when breeding them in order to make use of the females for experimenting upon & as traps to entice males into my lizard-house, I have known a female attract five males in succession (but only on one occasion) & she died of exhaustion before laying her eggs.

I think Wallace has rather jumped to conclusions in some of his remarks on particular cases of mimicry. If you look at his description (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1869) of Diadema anomala you will see that he directly contradicts himself thus—p. 286 “A male from Borneo in the British Museum approaches the colouring of the female, being darker than my Malacca male, & having a brighter blue gloss on the outer margin & apical third of the anterior wings.” p. 287 “The males being always dull brown, the females glossed with rich blue.”²

We have two males scarcely differing from the females, & I believe the Malacca male to belong to another species: both sexes of D. anomala mimic probably the male of Euploea midamus, but in the white subapical spots of hindwings, they more nearly resemble a common Indian species E. Callithoë, representatives of which I am always hoping to see from the Malayan Archipelago.³

Secondly M^r. Wallace’s assertion respecting the independent mimicry of males should I think be received with caution⁴   indeed I strongly suspect that the males of Elymnias undularis are imperfect mimics of Euplœas of the E. Saundersii group,⁵ (at anyrate both sexes of a very nearly allied form from Borneo & considered to be a variety by M^r. Wallace, present the precise aspect of E. Saundersii & allies) whilst E. undularis ♀ mimics Danais chrysippus;⁶ a second case which I suspect in the same genus would be established by the union of Elymnias Kamara Moore as ♂ of E. Ceryx Boisd.⁷ E. Kamara clearly mimics a Euplœa & E. Ceryx a Danais; M^r. Trimen believes that he has discovered the model of Diadema Misippus Linn. ♂ in Danais (Amauris) Ochlea Boisd. whilst the ♀ mimics D. Chrysippus.⁸

Thirdly M^r. Wallace’s note (See p. 413 of Sexual Selection)⁹ respecting the more brilliant males in all Pieridæ is negatived entirely by the genus Callidryas¹⁰ the females of which not only present colours as brilliant as those of the males but often are adorned with borders of suffused crimson & orange & are always more abundantly marked with series of black spots than the males, these black markings throw up the yellows & reds & greatly increase the beauty of the insects; the two sexes but particularly the females show a considerable resemblance in their undersurface colouring to fading leaves, they however generally exhibit two or three bright metallic silver spots which must I think rather interfere with the resemblance, these spots are sometimes absent in the males but never in the females: again the ♀ of a pretty Haitian Terias just described by myself for the first part of this year’s Zool. Proc. exhibits a bright orange nebula on the outer margin of the hindwings; this colouring is entirely absent or at anyrate barely visible in the male.¹¹

I am publishing a complete illustrated Monograph of Callidryas in my “Lepidoptera Exotica”;¹² I could show you that the males of nearly allied species hardly differ whilst the females are widely distinct; I have been obliged to separate one species of old authors into five local species on account of the difference of the females

Believe me to be | yours very sincerely | A G Butler