Note 28 — Chapter V

In the majority of cases this is certainly true. Probably all the Old-World Papilios that mimic Danaines are scarcer, and frequently very much scarcer, than their models. This is very evident from a study of the more comprehensive priced catalogues of Lepidoptera. The mimic is generally a more expensive insect than the model, and not infrequently it costs as many pounds as the model does shillings. But the rule is not universal. Papilio polytes is often much more common than either of its models. The remarkable Pierines, Archonias tereas and A. critias (Pl. XI, fig. 10) as a rule far outnumber the Pharmacophagus Swallow-tail which they mimic. Or again the Chalcosid moth Callamesia pieridoides[28] is a more abundant insect than the Bornean Pierine Delias cathara which it closely resembles.