CHAPTER XIII 

 PROTECTIVE AND AGGBESSIVE MIMICBY 



We have seen that a Lepidopterous insect occasion- 

 ally mimics another closely related to it, although the 

 resemblance is almost invariably between distantly 

 connected species; while in many cases the relation- 

 ship is very far removed, as when a moth imitates the 

 appearance of a butterfly. Corresponding cases occur 

 in other orders of insects, but we must now pass on to 

 consider some of the numerous instances in which the 

 mimetic species is separated from the form which it 

 deceptively resembles by the wide interval which re- 

 moves one order of insects from another. 



Hymenoptera mimicked by other orders of Insects 



The Hymenoptera, including the formidable hor- 

 nets, wasps, bees, and ants, are more frequently 

 mimicked than any other order. In several of the 

 British moths the wings have lost their scales and 



have become transparent, while the other parts have 

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