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Show 402 SEXUAL SELECTION. PART II. . . 1 s any number of highly to colour there IS no drfficu ty, a d One good in- . bl L . d tera could be name . . vana e ept 0P h d me a whole series stance will suffice. Mr. Bates s. ewed hildrente . in the · f Pa'Ylilio sesosir~s an c ' of spemmens o :r 1 . the extent of the beau- 1. 1 varied muc 1 m d latter tue ma es atch on the fore-wings, a~ tifully enamelled green p k ell as of the splendid . f th white mar as w in the size o. e the hm' d-'w .m g s.' so that there was crimson stnpe on th most and least gaudy a great contrast bet;;e~io s:sostris, though a beauti~ul males. The male oftph p childrente. It likewise . · ch less so an · h i! msect, IS mu . f the green patch on t e lOre-varies a little in the size ~ l appearance of a small . d in the occaswna . ld wm· gs, ant ·'pe on· the hm' d · O'S borrowed, as 1t wou -wmo' · d cnmson s n. 1 . f the females of this an f· m Its own fema e' or th' seem, ro . . th JEneas group possess Is of many ot~er speCies mb teen the brightest specimens · t pe Hence e we , crimsons n. . least bri ht of P. child?·ente, tnere of P. sesosir~s and the ~ · J t that as far l . t 1. and It was evicten was but a smal m er:a ' ned there would be no as mere variability IS c~ncer . ' b means of selec-difficulty in permanently mcreasmg y . b'l't . f . th species The varia I l y IS tion the beauty o ei er l . . but Mr. Wallace 1 t nfined to the rna e sex' here a mos co h 1s that the females of some and Mr. Bates have s ewn . ble the males being other species ~re :~~:~~yb:;::: m~ntioned the Gho~t nearly(~ns~a~ . humuli) as one of the best instances m Moth .uep1a u~i!l' . colour between the sexes of B · · f dlllerence m mnotthasm, iot maa y be worth a dd'm g 19 that in the Shetland . . . f the Malayan Region, in ' Transact. 1s Wallace on the Papllwmdre 0 A t ·'king case of a rare variety, Linn Soc.' vol. xxv. 1865, p. 8, 36. th snell marked female varieties, . d' t b t . een two o er w - 1 strictly . interme la c e w M B tes in ' Proc. Entomo og. is give~ by l\1r .. Wallace. See also r. a ' Soc.' Nov. 19th, 1866, P· xl. T t Ent Soc, vol. ii. part 6th, 3rd 19 Mr. R. MacLachlan, ' ransac · · · series, 1866, P· 459. •Cn.A.P. XI. BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 403 Islands, males are frequently found which closely ;resemble the females. In a future chapter I shall have 'Occasion to shew that the beautiful eye-like spots or ocelli, so common on the wings of many Lepidoptera, are eminently variable. On the whole, although many serious objections may be urged, it seems probable that most of the species of Lepidoptera which are brilliantly coloured, owe their ·colours to sexual selection, excepting in certain cases, presently to be mentioned, in which conspicuous colours .are beneficial as a protection. From the ardour of the male throughout the animal kingdom, he is generally willing to accept any female; and it is the female which usually exerts a choice. Hence if sexual selection has here acted, the male, when the sexes differ, ought to be the most brilliantly coloured; and this undoubtedly is the ordinary rule. When the sexes are brilliantly coloured and resemble each other, the characters acquired by the males appear to have been transmitted to both sexes. But will this explanation of the similarity and -dissimilarity in colour between the sexes suffice ? ~ The males and females of the same species of butterfly are known 20 in several cases to inhabit different stations, the former commonly basking in the sunshine, the latter haunting gloomy forests. It is therefore possible that .different conditions of life may have acted directly on the two sexes; but this is not probable,21 as in the adult state they are exposed during a very short period to different conditions; and the larvre of both are exposed to the same conditions. Mr. Wallace believes 2o H. W. Bates, 'The Naturalist on the Amazons,' vol. ii. 1863, p. 228. A. R. Wallace, in' Transact. Linn. Soc.' vol. xxv. 1865, p. 10. 21 On this whole subject see 'The Variation of Animals and Plants m1der Domestication,' vol. ii. 1868, chap. xxiii. 2 D 2 |
