64 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



We have seen that there are certain cases in which insects 

 escape by simulating the aspect of the very enemies that 

 persecute their tribe, as, for instance, the Scaphurse of South 

 America imitate the sand-wasps, which provision their nests 

 with crickets ; but there is a kindred class of mimicries, not very 

 common, in which the advantage is reversed, the rapacious 

 enemy, like the wolf in sheep's clothing, wearing the appearance 

 of the creatures on which it preys. The Mantis family present 

 some good cases of this description, Mr. Bates recording one 

 occurring on the Amazon River, in which a Mantis exactly 

 resembled the "white ants" {Termes sp.) on which it fed. I 

 suspect that a very slender pale Mantis, which I met with in 

 Natal, and which very closely imitated the appearance of certain 

 Phasmidse, was probably so disguised to enable it to prey more 

 easily on the weak Bacilli of the same district. In this Mantis 

 the rapacious fore paws were so formed and held as to hide their 

 real character, and I took it for a Bacillus on first seeing it. 

 Hunting spiders are in some cases very like their prey, as may 

 everywhere be noticed in the case of the species of Salticus, 

 which catch horseflies on sunny walls and fences. The likeness 

 is not in itself more than a general one of size, form, and 

 colouring ; but its effect is greatly aided by the actions of the 

 spider, which walks hurriedly for short distances, stopping 

 abruptly, and rapidly moving its falces, in evident mimicry of the 

 well-known movements characteristic of flies. Many spiders 

 exhibit a strong resemblance to ants, and Mr. Wallace states 

 that those of one tropical genus which feed on ants are exactly 

 like their prey. 



Having now rapidly glanced at some of the more prominent 

 instances of the various descriptions of protective resemblance 

 existing in Nature, it only remains for me to repeat my conviction 

 that upon the theory of " natural selection" alone are they at all 

 explicable. If we assume the independent creation of all species 

 of organic beings precisely as we now behold them, it is impossible 

 to understand why there should have been tins system of disguises 

 at all. If from the very first the destined prey of other animals 

 possessed in every case the appearance we now find them 

 possessing, would the resemblances we have been considering 

 have protected them in the least ? Can it be supposed that 

 certain species of butterflies were created in great abundance. 



