In addition to birds and predatory insects the butterflies are persecuted by the whole army of lizards. In order to entice the butterflies, Hahnel laid bait in the wood, 'sugar-cane, little sweet bananas, and such like.' Various kinds of butterfly settled on it, 'Satyrides, Ageroniæ, _Adelpha_ and other Nymphalidæ.' He saw that they 'were persistently stalked and attacked by greedy lizards, which, in spite of their plump figure and uncouth gait, showed themselves able to spring suddenly out and snatch their prey with great adroitness. It is, however, very wonderful to see the agility such a persecuted insect displays in evading the repeated attacks of these marauders.' Thus on one occasion an _Adelpha_ was driven off a dozen times from the exposed bait by a lizard, which pounced upon it, but it always settled down for a short time on a leaf, and soon returned to its repast, whereupon the enemy 'instantaneously rushed upon it in a fury, until at last he was obliged to give in,' abandoning the attempt to catch a creature so adept in retreat.
Many butterflies assemble at midday on sandbanks in the middle of the river, in order to drink, and there, too, the lizards are always lurking about. Hahnel gives a pretty and undoubtedly accurate description of the protective value of the long tail borne by many of the sail-like Papilios at the end of the posterior wing; they 'quite obviously' afford protection against the lizards, 'which, after snapping, often find themselves obliged to be content with the tail alone, while the rest of the animal flies away practically uninjured.'
Not only is the great persecution of the butterflies a fact, the immunity of the known species, which are models for mimicry, is also certain. For numerous species, at any rate, this has now been established. First of all--as has already been said--this is true of the Heliconiidæ, in regard to which Wallace long ago showed that, if the thorax be pressed, they exude a yellowish juice of unpleasant smell. This is probably the blood of the insect, but that does not hinder the repulsive odour of the living butterfly being perceptible at a distance of 'several paces,' as Seitz observed in _Heliconius besei_.