230 ENTOMOLOGY 
of the body being light in color and inconspicuous by contrast 
with the black. Indeed the various means by which a super- 
ficial resemblance is brought about between remotely related 
insects are often extraordinary. 
Irrespective of affinity, insects of diverse orders may con- 
verge in wholesale numbers toward a central protected form. 
The most complete examples of this have recently been brought 
to light by Marshall and Poulton, in their splendid work on 
the bionomics of South African insects, in which is given, for 
instance, a colored plate showing how closely six distasteful 
and dominant beetles of the genus Lycus are imitated by nearly 
a remarkable example of con- 
forty species of other genera 
vergence involving no less than eighteen families and five or- 
ders, namely, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidop- 
tera and Diptera. Excepting a few unprotected, or Batesian, 
mimics (a fly and two or three beetles), this association is 
one between species that are already protected, by stings, bad 
tastes or other peculiarities. In other words, here is Muller- 
ian mimicry on an immense scale; and if Mullerian mimicry 
is profitable when only two species are concerned, what an 
enormous benefit it must be to each of forty participants! 
Strength of the Theory.—F vidently the theory of mimicry 
rests upon the assumption that the mimics, by virtue of their 
mimicry, are specially protected from insectivorous foes. Un- 
til the last few years, however, there was altogether too little 
positive evidence bearing upon the assumption itself, though 
this was supported by such scattered observations as were 
available. The oft-repeated assertion that this lack of evi- 
dence was due simply to inattention to the subject, has been 
proved to be true by the decisive results recently gained in the 
tropics by several competent investigators who have been able 
to give the subject the requisite amount of attention. 
From his observations and experiments in India, Frank 
Finn concludes: 
“1. That there is a general appetite for butterflies among 
insectivorous birds, even though they are rarely seen when 
wild to attack them. 
