372 



Professor E. B. Poalton on 



Po'omachus mqualis (Nos. 95-101) is probably an im- 

 perfect mimic of the white-banded Xylocopid[&; but with 

 the exception of the winged Termites and the male of its 

 own species, its victims (4) were all Coleopterous. Hence 

 if a mimic at all it must be classed with Asihis crabroni- 

 formis (Nos. 149-156). The second column of the table 

 includes a fine species, testaceiiJes 1 (No. 117), from Macao, 

 probably mimetic of a wasp. Its prey is insufficiently 

 known, but must include one, perhaps two wasps, although 

 apparently not the model, and may include a Cicada. 

 The tolerably indiscriminate list of victims in this column 

 seems however to indicate an undoubted preference for 

 Dragonflies and Cicadas, inasmuch as the majority of 

 the records of these insects are here to be found. 



Philodicus, Alcimus and Aijodea (Nos. 122-140). — We 

 here encounter the most obvious preference for a particular 

 diet to be met with anywhere among the Asilicl^e, except 

 in those specialized forms which prey upon their models. 

 Omitting the doubtfully determined Philodicus sp., which 

 had attacked a Tachinid fly, the prey of the remaining 

 species of these three genera is tabulated below : — 



The Prey of Alcimus and allied genera. 



When this table is compared with the general analysis 

 of prey (pp. 359, 361), the preference for Lepidoptera and 

 Orthoptera will be seen to be remarkably clear. As re- 



