Note 45 — Chapter VII

These, however, are not the only criticisms of the theory of mimicry which the study of this species forces upon us. Papilio polytes is one of the few mimetic species that has been bred, and in no other case of polymorphism is the relation between the different forms so clearly understood. For this result we are indebted mainly to the careful experiments of Mr J. C. F. Fryer, who recently devoted the best part of two years to breeding the different forms of this butterfly in Ceylon[45]. Fryer came to the conclusion that an explanation of this curious case is possible on ordinary Mendelian lines. At first sight the breeding results appear complicated, for any one of the three forms of female can behave in several different ways. For the sake of simplicity we may for the moment class together the A and H females as the mimetic females, the non-mimetic being represented by the M or male-like females. The different kinds of families which each of the three females can produce may be tabulated as follows:—