Mimicry in Butterflies

This little book has been written in the hope that it may appeal to several classes of readers. Not infrequently has the author been asked by friends of different callings in life to recommend to them some book on mimicry which shall be reasonably short, well illustrated without being very costly, and not too hard to understand. The author has always been obliged to tell them that he knows 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. He hopes 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. There 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 nature's problems. If this little book serves to smooth the path of some who would become acquainted with that problem, and desire to use their opportunities of observation, the work that has gone to its making will have been well repaid.