Researches on Mimicry on the Basis of a Natural Classification of the Papilionidæ

Abstract

IT is, in some respects, a matter for regret that this important and painstaking work has appeared. The treatment falls far short of the pretensions of the author, and is marred by numerous grave imperfections; and yet the plan is so comprehensive, and the amount of valuable detail so great, that the appearance of a better work will probably be long delayed. The detail which forms the real merit of the work is piled together in a most inartistic manner, so that every reader, except the serious and determined student of the subject, cannot fail to be repelled, and even to the latter the task will be most tedious. And yet there is no subject which is capable of being made more interesting and attractive—alike to the beginner and the advanced student—than mimicry.

Researches on Mimicry on the Basis of a Natural Classification of the Papilionidæ.

Part ii. Researches on Mimicry. By the late Dr. Erich Haase, Director of the Royal Siamese Museum in Bangkok. Translated by C. M. Child, Ph.D. Pp. 154 and 8 coloured plates. (Stuttgart: Ernin Nägele. London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, 1896.)