Abstract
THOUGH I cannot claim any special knowledge of insect behaviour, I hope you will allow me to make a few remarks on “A Mistaken Butterfly” discussed in NATURE for September 5 and December 12, 1918. I have my doubts as to whether it was the butterflies or the observers who were mistaken. A butterfly does not always alight on a flower, or on what it supposes to be one, but appears frequently to alight for rest. Now, in selecting a resting-place, it will naturally select a good “taking-off” position, and the knob of a hatpin and a golf ball are evidently from the butterfly's point of view good “taking-off” positions, especially the golf ball, it being surrounded by no good “taking-off” places, and its whiteness would help to direct attention to it.
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AITKEN, J. A Mistaken Butterfly. Nature 102, 366 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/102366a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102366a0
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