Contributions to the theory of natural selection. A series of essays ... By Alfred Russel Wallace ...

102 MIIsDICRY, AND OTHER PROTECTIVE
into three by narrow yellow rings; and this agailn is
exactly copied by a harmless snake, Plioceras elapoides,
which is found along with its model in:Mexico,
But, more remarkable still, there is in South America a third group of snakes, the genus Oxyrhopus,
doubtfully venomous, and having no immediate affinity
with either of the preceding, which has also the same
curious distribution of colours, namely, variously disposed rings of red, yellow, and black; and there are
some cases in which species of all three of these
groups similarly marked inhabit the same district.
For example, Elaps mipartitus has single black rings
very close together. It inhabits the west side of the
Andes, and in the same districts occur Pliocerus euryzonus and Oxyrhopus petolarius, which exactly copy
its pattern. In Brazil Elaps lemniscatus is copied by
Oxyrhopus trigeminus, both having black rings disposed in threes. In Elaps hemiprichii the ground
colour appears to be black, with alternations of two
narrow yellow bands and a broader red one; and of
this pattern again we have an exact double in Oxyrhopus formosus, both being found in many localities
of tropical South America.
What adds much to the extraordinary character of
these resemblances is the fact, that nowhere in the
world but in America are there any snakes at all
which have this style of colouring. - Dr. Gunther, of
the British Museum, who has kindly furnished some
of the details here referred to, assures me that this is
the case; and that red, black, and yellow rings occur