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nydus/Contributions to the Theory of Natural SelectionPublic

This volume collects essays written by Alfred Russel Wallace regarding his independent discovery and development of the theory of natural selection. The author provides corrected and expanded versions of his previous scientific writings to demonstrate the scope and application of his findings.

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Table of Contents

IV. THE MALAYAN PAPILIONIDÆ OR SWALLOW-TAILED BUTTERFLIES, AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION.

The eastern Papilios allied to Polydorus, Coon, and Philoxenus, form a natural section of the genus resembling, in many respects, the Æneas-group of South America, which they may be said to represent in the East. Like them, they are forest insects, have a low and weak flight, and in their favourite localities are rather abundant in individuals; and like them, too, they are the objects of mimicry. We may conclude, therefore, that they possess some hidden means of protection, which makes it useful to other insects to be mistaken for them.

The Papilios which resemble them belong to a very distinct section of the genus, in which the sexes differ greatly; and it is those females only which differ most from the males, and which have already been alluded to as exhibiting instances of dimorphism, which resemble species of the other group.

The resemblance of P. Romulus to P. Hector is, in some specimens, very considerable, and has led to the two species being placed following each other in the British Museum Catalogues and by Mr. E. Doubleday. I have shown, however, that P. Romulus is probably a dimorphic form of the female P. Pammon, and belongs to a distinct section of the genus.

The next pair, Papilio Theseus, and P. Antiphus, have been united as one species both by De Haan and in the British Museum Catalogues. The ordinary variety of P. Theseus found in Java almost as nearly resembles P. Diphilus, inhabiting the same country. The most interesting case, however, is the extreme female form of P. Memnon (figured by Cramer

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