PSYCHE. 



AN INTERESTING CASE OF MIMICRY. 



By HERBERT OSBORN, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



Some lime ago I received from Mr. C. 

 W. Mally, Assistant Entomologist, Cape 

 Town, S. Africa, some specimens of a 

 species of Homopteron which e.xhibits 

 in a quite remarkable manner the adop- 

 tion of a form and appearance which 

 must serve it as a most efficient protec- 

 tion. 



The insect itself Cephaklus iii/Htiiaiiis 

 is a little over half an inch long, of a 

 brown color, and has a remarkably pro- 

 longed head which anteriorly tapers into 

 a very large spine. This prolonged head 

 is almost one half the total length of the 

 insect. The body is slender and the 

 wings terminate posteriorly somewhat 

 abruptly but in such a manner that they 

 fit very perfectly upon the stem of the 

 plant which is its ordinary food. 



The protective feature comes in from 

 the fact that the aborted leaf sheaths on 

 the stem of the plant form sharp spines 

 occurring at intervals along the length of 

 the stem and these are perfectly repro- 

 duced in the form and color of the insect. 

 So close is the resemblance that when a 

 number of the spines are mounted sepa- 

 rately along side of the insects it is very 

 difficult to distinguish them without the 

 most careful scrutiny. When the speci- 



mens were first received I had looked 

 them over some time before noticing that 

 a number were not insects at all but 

 simply spurs and had there not been one 

 mounted with a fragment of stem along 

 with an insect beside it I might have 

 taken a much longer time to make the 

 discovery. I have shown the set to a 

 number of individuals who have taken 

 quite a little time to make the same 

 discovery. 



This species was described many 

 years ago by Percheron (Guerin. Mag. de 

 Zool. II. IX. PL 48) and has been figured 

 by Burmeister (Genera Insectorum PI. 4.) 

 and is mentioned in later works on Afri- 

 can insects, but so far as I have been 

 able to find there is no mention made of 

 its foodplant or of the remarkable mimi- 

 cry it presents. If collected without 

 attention to the foodplant or noticing the 

 peculiar spines which it resembles there 

 would be no suspicion that such mimicry 

 occurs. 



According to Mr. Mally the insect 

 lives on the rush, Dovea tedorum Masters, 

 the spines of which are mimicked. I 

 may mention that the stems are green 

 while the aborted sheaths are dark 

 brown. 



