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The Descent of Man

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quently watched one or more males pirouetting<br />

round a female until I was tired, without seeing<br />

the end <strong>of</strong> the courtship. Mr. A.G. Butler also<br />

informs me that he has several times watched a<br />

male courting a female for a full quarter <strong>of</strong> an<br />

hour; but she pertinaciously refused him, and<br />

at last settled on the ground and closed her<br />

wings, so as to escape from his addresses.<br />

Although butterflies are weak and fragile creatures,<br />

they are pugnacious, and an emperor<br />

butterfly (1. Apatura Iris: '<strong>The</strong> Entomologist's<br />

Weekly Intelligence,' 1859, p. 139. For the Bornean<br />

Butterflies, see C. Collingwood, 'Rambles<br />

<strong>of</strong> a Naturalist,' 1868, p. 183.) has been captured<br />

with the tips <strong>of</strong> its wings broken from a conflict<br />

with another male. Mr. Collingwood, in speaking<br />

<strong>of</strong> the frequent battles between the butterflies<br />

<strong>of</strong> Borneo, says, "<strong>The</strong>y whirl round each<br />

other with the greatest rapidity, and appear to<br />

be incited by the greatest ferocity."

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