RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS. 105 



and cannot be placed near each other in any natural 

 arrangement. As a proof that the resemblance is really 

 deceptive, it may be mentioned that the Mimeta is 

 figured and described as a honeysucker in the costly 

 " Voyage de 1' Astrolabe," under the name of Philedon 

 bouruensis ! 



Passing to the island of Ceram, we find allied species 

 of both genera. The Tropidorhynchus subcornuttis is 

 of an earthy brown colour washed with yellow ochre, 

 with bare orbits, dusky cheeks, and the usual pale re- 

 curved nape-ruff. The Mimeta forsteni is absolutely 

 identical in the tints of every part of the body, the 

 details of which are imitated in the same manner as 

 in the Bouru birds already described. In two other 

 islands there is an approximation towards mimicry, 

 although it is not so perfect as in the two preced- 

 ing cases. In Timor the Tropidorhynchus timoriensis 

 is of the usual earthy brown above, with the nape-ruff 

 very prominent, the cheeks black, the throat nearly 

 white, and the whole under surface pale whitish brown. 

 These various tints are all well reproduced in Mimeta 

 virescens, the chief want of exact imitation being that 

 the throat and breast of the Tropidorhynchus has a 

 very scaly appearance, being covered with rigid pointed 

 feathers which are not imitated in the Mimeta, although 

 there are signs of faint dusky spots which may easily 

 furnish the groundwork of a more exact imitation by 

 the continued survival of favourable variations in the 

 same direction. There is also a large knob at the base 

 of the bill of the Tropidorhynchus which is not at all 



