Ch.L] BEETLES RESEMBLING CATERPILLARS. 7 



conspicuous. It is only the male that is thus coloured, 

 the female being clothed in a sober suit of greenish- 

 brown. I think this bird is polygamous, for several of 

 the brown ones were always seen with one of the red- 



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and-black ones. The bright colours of the male must 

 make it very conspicuous to birds of prey, and, probably 

 in consequence, it is not nearly so bold as the obscurely- 

 coloured females. When a clear space in the brushwood 

 is to be crossed, such as a road, two or three of the 

 females will fly across first, before the male will venture 



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to do so ; and he is always more careful to get himself 

 concealed amongst the foliage than his mates. 



I walked some distance into the forest along swampy 

 paths cut by charcoal burners, and saw many beautiful 

 and curious insects. Amongst the numerous butterflies, 

 large blue Morphos and narrow, weak-winged Heliconidre, 

 striped and spotted with yellow, red, and black, were the 

 most conspicuous and most characteristic of tropical 

 America. Amongst the beetles I found a curious longi- 

 corn (Desmiphora fasciculate^ covered with long brown 

 and black hairs, and closely resembling some of the 

 short, thick, hairy caterpillars that are common on the 

 bushes. Other closely allied species hide under fallen 

 branches and logs, but this one clung exposed amongst 

 the leaves, its antermaB concealed against its body, and 

 its resemblance to a caterpillar so great, that I was myself 

 at first deceived bv it. It is well known that insectivorous 







birds will not touch a hairy caterpillar, and this is only 

 one of numberless instances where insects, that have some 

 special protection against their enemies, are closely imi- 

 tated by others belonging to different genera, and even 

 different orders. Thus, wasps and stinging ants have 



