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Mimicry in Butterflies

Note 83 — Chapter X

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These different species occur round Victoria Nyanza and also on some of the islands in the lake. Some interesting points are brought out by a comparison of the occurrence and variation of the species on the mainland with what is found on Bugalla Island in the Sesse Archipelago. On the mainland the Pseudacraeas are abundant but the Planemas even more so, outnumbering the former by about 5:2[83]. Moreover, it is rare to find individuals more or less intermediate between the three forms, though they are known to occur. On Bugalla Island, however, a different state of things is found. The Pseudacraeas are very abundant, whereas the Planemas, owing doubtless to the scarcity of their food plant, are relatively rare, and are very greatly outnumbered by the Pseudacraeas. At the same time the proportion of transitional forms among the Pseudacraeas is definitely higher than on the mainland. These facts are interpreted by Carpenter as follows:—

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