( Ixiv ) 



of ClMVOcamrpa osiris (which in general colouring is like 

 the common puff-adder), and it is plain that such I'esem- 

 blances, coupled as they are usually with warning attitudes 

 (as in Choirocainpa elpenor), ax-e of the gi-eatest service 

 in protecting many insects from attack and consequent 

 destruction. 



The warning attitudes of certain Coleoptera are well known : 

 they are perhaps most common among the Carahidfc : the 

 genus Anthla has a peculiar warning attitude, but I am 

 doubtful whether the white spots on certain of the species are 

 aposematic, as Professor Poulton thinks, nor do I think with 

 him that the spots at the apex of the elytra in various 

 Carabidifi are directive ; in speaking of the anal secretion which 

 is common to so many of the Carabida% Mr. Marshall says {I. c. 

 p. 511) that in the smaller species " the utility of the secretion 

 lies in the fact that it enables the insects momentarily to 

 disconcert their enemies, and this, owing to their great activity, 

 gives them an opportunity to escape. Under the circumstances 

 it is evidently of importance that an attack from an enemy 

 should be directed to the anal portion of the body in order to 

 ensure its receiving the discharge." The beetles, however, are 

 not distasteful as a whole, nnd, in such a case, it does not 

 appear to be of much advantage to warn an enemy towards 

 the tail only ; a few specimens might escape, but the majority 

 would be eaten after a few experiments : perhaps these 

 patches are recognition markings, but it is possible that 

 they are of no significance, for they aie very fai- from being 

 universal : they are absent or not present in any marked 

 degree, for instance, among the Bracliinida^ in wliicli family 

 we might expect them, on Professor Poulton's theory, to 

 be especially conspicuous. Large eve-spots are found in 

 certain Elaterida^, but I have considered these as presenting 

 a cryptic appearance, and T believe that the light spots 

 at the sides and apex of the elyti'a of various beetles, 

 which toucli tlie margin, are really cryptic rather than 

 aposematic, for they break up the outline of the insect, and 

 the combination of the black or brown and white renders 

 the insect more or less inconspicuous, on the same prin- 

 ciple that a zebr.a, or a duck on the surface of the water, 



