ected with these distinct forms is that
they are both the offspring of either form. A single brood of larva
were bred in Java by a Dutch entomologist, and produced males as well as
tailed and tailless females, and there is every reason to believe that
this is always the case, and that forms intermediate in character
never occur. To illustrate these phenomena, let us suppose a roaming
Englishman in some remote island to have two wives--one a
black-haired/red-skinned Indian, the other a woolly-headed/sooty-skinned
negress; and that instead of the children being mulattoes of brown or
dusky tints, mingling the characteristics of each parent in varying
degrees, all the boys should be as fair-skinned and blue-eyed as their
father, while the girls should altogether resemble their mothers. This
would be thought strange enough, but the case of these butterflies is
yet more extraordinary, for each mother is capable not only of producing
male offspring like the father, and female like herself, but also other
females like her fellow wife, and altogether differing from herself!

The other species to which I have to direct attention is the Kallima
paralekta, a butterfly of the same family group as our Purple Emperor,
and of about the same size or larger. Its upper surface is of a rich
purple, variously tinged with ash colour, and across the forewings
there is a broad bar of deep orange, so that when on the wing it is very
conspicuous. This species was not uncommon in dry woods and thickets,
and I often endeavoured to capture it without success, for after flying
a short distance it would enter a bush among dry or dead leaves, and
however carefully I crept up to the spot I could never discover it until
it would suddenly start out again and then disappear in a similar place.
If at length I was fortunate enough to see the exact spot where the
butterfly settled, and though I lost sight of it for some time, I would
discover that it was close before my eyes, but that in its position of
repose it so closely resembled a dead leaf attached to a twig as almost
certainly to deceive the eye even when gazing full upon it. I captured
several specimens on the wing, and was able fully to understand the way
in which this wonderful resemblance is produced.

The end of the upper wings terminates in a fine point, just as the
leaves of many tropical shrubs and trees are pointed, while the lower
wings are somewhat more obtuse, and are lengthened out into a