RESEMBLANCES AMONG- ANIMALS. 91 



resemble. There are many species in India (like those 

 figured by Professor Westwood in his " Oriental Ento- 

 mology ") which have the hind legs very broad and 

 densely hairy, so as exactly to imitate the brush-legged 

 bees (Scopulipedes) which abound in the same country. 

 In this case we have more than mere resemblance of 

 colour, for that which is an important functional struc- 

 ture in the one group is imitated in another whose 

 habits render it perfectly useless. 



Mimicry among Beetles. 



It may fairly be expected that if these imitations of 

 one creature by another really serve as a protection 

 to weak and decaying species, instances of the same 

 kind will be found among other groups than the Le- 

 pidoptera ; and such is the case, although they are 

 seldom so prominent and so easily recognised as those 

 already pointed out as occurring in that order. A few 

 very interesting examples may, however, be pointed out 

 in most of the other orders of insects. The Coleop- 

 tera or beetles that imitate other Coleoptera of distinct 

 groups are very numerous in tropical countries, and 

 they generally follow the laws already laid down as 

 regulating these phenomena. The insects which others 

 imitate always have a special protection, which leads 

 them to be avoided as dangerous or uneatable by small 

 insectivorous animals ; some have a disgusting taste 

 (analogous to that of the Heliconidae) ; others have 

 such a hard and stony covering that they cannot be 

 crushed or digested ; while a third set are very active, 



