146 Psyche [October 



and to protected insects such as ants, Coccinellid beetles, etc. 

 He considers the structure and patterns to be distinctly protec- 

 tive in nature. Sharp (Cambridge Nat. Hist. p. 577) states that 

 no remarkable habits are known to occur in the family. 



One of the extraordinarily developed genera of the family is 

 Combophora, which has the pronotum enormously inflated, it being 

 often as large as the rest of the insect, and armed with sharp 

 spines. At Porto Velho, on the Rio Madeira, I had an oppor- 

 tunity to observe living specimens of one of the species (C. hesM 

 Germ.). Beske, who first observed it, says that the nymphs are 

 attended by ants, which obtain a liquid secreted from a space 

 between the head and pronotum. Poulton suggests that the insect 

 may be a mimic of a Coccinellid beetle. Those individuals which I 

 first found were on a low bush in a little clearing. Ants were run- 

 ning about on the leaves and I was collecting these when the bugs 

 began flying with a loud buzz away from the bush. Those which 

 had remained were on the stems, and their gall-like form and color 

 pattern blended well with the background, rendering the insect 

 quite inconspicuous for such a large, oddly shaped and marked form. 

 I took two before they all flew away, and then found that those I 

 had picked up had flown also, after detaching themselves from the large 

 inflated pronotum and leaving this for me to place in the collecting bottle! 

 The species was not at all common locally, and I afterwards found 

 only two specimens. Both of these were flying. When netted 

 they immediately separated from the pronotum, which by itself 

 is far more conspicuous than the rest of the insect, and attempted 

 to fly away without it. 



I think it may safely be considered that the easily detached 

 pronotum is distinctly advantageous to the possessor, its use being 

 comparable with that of the loosely jointed tails of certain lizards. 

 Neither of these adaptations is resorted to till coloration or 

 other means of defense have failed, and the object in both cases 

 is to distract the attention of the foe till a place of safety can be 

 reached. The lizard has the advantage of being able to grow 

 another tail, but it is not probable that this means of defense is 

 used many times during the life of an individual. In other ways, 

 the adaptation of Combophora would seem to be an eft'ective 

 defense. The tail of a lizard must give some satisfaction to the 

 captor, and in no wise would deter it from further attacks, but 



