A Mistaken Butterfly

Abstract

REFERRING to Prof. Barnard's letter so titled in NATURE of April 15, which describes the apparent mistake of a butterfly in visiting a peacock's feather as if expecting to “extract food,” I think it probable that there are no animals that do not make mistakes at times. I observed an analogous mistake made by a species of Pieridæ—Appias nero in Sumatra, as I have recorded in “A Naturalist's Wanderings,” p. 130:—“In the open paths I netted scarlet Pieridæ … often flying in flocks of over a score, exactly matching in colour the fallen [withered] leaves, which it was amusing to observe how often they mistook for one of their own fellows at rest, and to watch the futile attentions of an amorous male towards such a leaf moving in the wind.”