Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley: Lepidoptera: Heliconidae.

Bates spent eleven years in the Amazon and there collected 8,000 species of insects new to science. In the above paper he clearly stated and solved the problem of “mimicry”, known today as “Batesian mimicry”. The superficial resemblance of a palatable species (mimic) to an unpalatable species (model) is a form of protective coloration that has evolved by natural selection. (See also No. 228.1)