occurs, of which both sexes are very similar in form and markings to the
non-mimetic male of P. dardanus, so that it probably represents the
ancestor of this latter species.

In face of such facts as these every attempt at another explanation must
fail. Similarly all the other details of the case fulfil the preliminary
postulates of selection, and leave no room for any other interpretation.
That the males do not take on the protective colouring is easily explained,
because they are in general more numerous, and the females are more
important for the preservation of the species, and must also live longer in
order to deposit their eggs. We find the same state of things in many
other species, and in one case (Elymnias undularis) in which the male is
also mimetically coloured, it copies quite a differently coloured immune
species from the model followed by the female. This is quite intelligible
when we consider that if there were TOO MANY false immune types, the birds
would soon discover that there were palatable individuals among those with
unpalatable warning colours. Hence the imitation of different immune
species by Papilio dardanus!

I regret that lack of space prevents my bringing forward more examples of
mimicry and discussing them fully. But from the case of Papilio dardanus
alone there is much to be learnt which is of the highest importance for our
understanding of transformations. It shows us chiefly what I once called,
somewhat strongly perhaps, THE OMNIPOTENCE OF NATURAL SELECTION in answer
to an opponent who had spoken of its "inadequacy." We here see that one
and the same species is capable of producing four or five different
patterns of colouring and marking; thus the colouring and marking are not,
as has often been supposed, a necessary outcome of the specific nature of
the species, but a true adaptation, which cannot arise as a direct effect
of climatic conditions, but solely through what I may call the sorting out