This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

Originally published in 1915, this book was written by the renowned British geneticist Reginald Crundall Punnett (1875-1967). Intended to appeal to a broad range of readers, the text presents a concise discussion of mimicry in butterflies and the role of mimicry in the evolutionary process. Illustrative figures and notes are included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in butterflies, the development of evolutionary theory and the history of science.

This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

British naturalist and geneticist REGINALD CRUNDALL PUNNETT (1875-1967) is best remember for connecting statistics with Mendelism, the study of genetics pioneered by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel. This charming little book is considered the first textbook on genetics, and one of the first works to introduce the concept to the general public. This replica of the 1922 fifth edition includes all of the original charts, illustrations, diagrams, and photos. It remains a remarkable artifact of science writing of the early 20th century, and will delight students of genetics and popular science.

MIMICRY IN BUTTERFLIES BY REGINALD CRUNDALL PUNNETT, F. R. S. Fellow of Gonville and CahiTColiege Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics in the University of Cambridge Cambridge at the University Press 1915 Cambridge PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M. A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS PREFACE r 1 1HIS little book has been written in the hope that --it may appeal to several classes of readers. Not infrequently I have been asked by friends of different callings in life to recommend them some book on mimicry which shall be reasonably short, well illustrated without being very costly, and not too hard to understand. I have always been obliged to tell them that I know of nothing in our language answering to this description, and it is largely as an attempt to remedy this deficiency that the present little volume has been written. I hope also that it will be found of interest to those who live in or visit tropical lands, and are attracted by the beauty of the butterfly life around them. Thjere are few such countries without some of these cases of close resemblance between butterflies belonging to different families and groups, and it is to those who have the opportunity to be among them that we must look for fuller light upon one of the most fascinating of all natures problems. If this little book serves to vi PREFACE smooth the path of some who would become ac quainted with that problem, and desire to use their opportunities of observation, the work that has gone to its making will have been well repaid. To those who cultivate biological thought from the more philosophical point of view, I venture to hope that what I have written may not be without appeal. At such a time as the present, big with impendingchanges in the social fabric, few things are more vital than a clear conception of the scope and workings of natural selection. Little enough is our certain knowledge of these things, and small though the butterflys contribution may be I trust that it will not pass altogether unregarded. In conclusion I wish to offer my sincere thanks to those who have helped me in different ways. More especially are they due to my friends Dr Karl Jordan for the loan of some valuable specimens, and to Mr T. H. Riches for his kindly criticism on reading over the proof-sheets. R. O. P. February, 1915 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY ....... 1 II. MIMICRY BATESIAN AND MULLERIAN ... 8 III. OLD-WORLD MIMICS . . . . . . 18 IV. NEW-WORM MIMICS ...... 37 V. SOME CRITICISMS ....... 50 VI. MIMICRY RINGS . ..... 61 VII. THE CASE OF Papilio poly tea . . . . . 75 VIII. THE CASE OF Papilio polytes cont. ... 93 IX. THE ENEMIES OF BUTTERFLIES .... 104 X. MIMICRY AND VARIATION . . . . .126 XI. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . .139 APPENDIX I ...... 164 APPENDIX II . . . . . . . . J57 PLATES I XVI AND DESCRIPTIONS . . . 160E I V. ORIENTAL MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. VI IX. AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. X XIII. SOUTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES. XIV. SCALES OF LEPIDOPTERA. XV. CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES. XVI. NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES. INDEX ......... 183 The process by which a mimetic analogy is brought about in nature is a problem which involves that of the origin of all species and all adaptations. H. W. BATES, 1861. With mimesis, above all, it is wise, when the law says that a thing is black, first to inquire whether it does not happen to be white. HENRI FABBE. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY IT is now more than fifty years since Darwingave the theory of natural selection to the world, and the conception of a gradual evolution has long ago become part of the currency of thought. Evolution for Darwin was brought about by more than one factor. He believed in the inherited effects of the use and disuse of parts, and he also regarded sexual selection as operating at any rate among the higher animals. Yet he looked upon the natural selection of small favour able variations as the principal factor in evolutionary change...