The end gained is the same, but the means, though appearing superficially to be the same, are essentially different.

The principle formerly alluded to under the term of ANALOGICAL VARIATION has probably in these cases often come into play; that is, the members of the same class, although only distantly allied, have inherited so much in common in their constitution, that they are apt to vary under similar exciting causes in a similar manner; and this would obviously aid in the acquirement through natural selection of parts or organs, strikingly like each other, independently of their direct inheritance from a common progenitor.
As species belonging to distinct classes have often been adapted by successive slight modifications to live under nearly similar circumstances--to inhabit, for instance, the three elements of land, air and water--we can perhaps understand how it is that a numerical parallelism has sometimes been observed between the subgroups of distinct classes.

A naturalist, struck with a parallelism of this nature, by arbitrarily raising or sinking the value of the groups in several classes (and all our experience shows that their valuation is as yet arbitrary), could easily extend the parallelism over a wide range; and thus the septenary, quinary, quaternary and ternary classifications have probably arisen.
There is another and curious class of cases in which close external resemblance does not depend on adaptation to similar habits of life, but has been gained for the sake of protection.

I allude to the wonderful manner in which certain butterflies imitate, as first described by Mr.
Bates, other and quite distinct species.

This excellent observer has shown that in some districts of South America, where, for instance, an Ithomia abounds in gaudy swarms, another butterfly, namely, a Leptalis, is often found mingled in the same flock; and the latter so closely resembles the Ithomia in every shade and stripe of colour, and even in the shape of its wings, that Mr.Bates, with his eyes sharpened by collecting during eleven years, was, though always on his guard, continually deceived.