A remarkable feature of the African continent is the absence of the Pharmacophagus Swallow-tails. Of such Papilios as exhibit mimicry, and as compared with the total number of the group present the proportion is large, the majority resemble one or other {36} of the characteristic Danaines, while a few such as _P. ridleyanus_ and _P. cynorta_ resemble either an Acraeoid or a Planemoid model. As in the Oriental region the African Pierines do not offer many instances of mimetic analogies. The genus _Mylothris_, in which certain species are characterised by orange patches at the bases of the undersurfaces of the fore wings, is regarded by some authors as providing models for allied genera such as _Belenois_ and _Phrissura_. But as neither models nor mimics offer a marked divergence in appearance from the ordinary Pierine facies it is doubtful whether much stress can be laid on these cases. Africa also offers a few striking instances of mimicry in which day-flying moths play a part. The conspicuous Geometer _Aletis helcita_ is an abundant form, and with its strong red colour and black wing margins broken by white it is a striking object in the preserved state. Among the forms which bear a close resemblance to it are the Nymphaline _Euphaedra ruspina_, and the Lycaenid _Telipna sanguinea_[18]. * * * * * {37} CHAPTER IV NEW-WORLD MIMICS Of all the continents South America affords the greatest wealth of butterfly life, and it is in the tropical part of this region that many of the most beautiful and striking cases of mimicry are to be found. Viewed as a whole the butterfly population presents several features which serve to mark it off from that of the other two great tropical areas. In the first place the proportion of gaily coloured forms is higher. Bright red, yellow or fulvous brown contrasted with some deep shade approaching black form the dominant notes. Sombre coloured species are relatively scarcer than in the Oriental and African regions. In the second place when looking over collections from this part of the world one cannot help being struck by the frequency with which similar colour combinations occur over and over again in different as well as in the same groups. Now it is a simple scheme of black with an oblique scarlet band upon the fore wings--now an arrangement with alternating stripes of bright brown and black relieved with patches of clear yellow--now again a scheme of pure transparency and black. {38} Gay and pleasing as are the designs turned out the palette is a small one and invention is circumscribed. Under such conditions it might well be supposed that instances of close resemblance between different species would be numerous, and this in effect is what we find.