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VI. On two rcinarkahle cases of mimicry from Elojjura, 

 British North Borneo. By H. J. S. Pryer. 



[Read December 3rd, 1884.] 



Plate X. 



Since the appearance of my friend Mr. George Lewis' 

 valuable paper on the mechanical action of solar 

 rays I have sought evidence for and against the views 

 expressed therein, more particularly as affecting the 

 questions of protective coloration and mimicry. Having 

 obtained lately, while in Borneo, two most striking cases 

 of mimicry which I think will throw some light on both 

 points, I venture to lay the following remarks before the 

 Society. 



The first case is a large coleopteron mimicking an 

 equally large hymenopteron : — 



Description. — The beetle : Size, If in. long ; expanse 

 of wings, 2|- in. The elytra are only f in. long, leaving 

 the greater portion of the body exposed, after the 

 manner of the Staphyliniehe. Antennfe, 1 in. ; legs 

 long, hind pair If in. Colour : Antennae, head, thorax, 

 elytra, body, and legs, jet-black ; wings also black, but 

 having a large conspicuous white patch occupying the 

 apical third of the wing ; tip of the wing black.* 



The wasp : Size, If in. long ; expanse of wings, 2|- in. 

 Antennae, f in. ; legs long, hind pair If in. Colour : 



'■'•■ Coloborhombus fasciatipennis, u. s. 



Niger velutinus ; alis nigro-fuscis, fascia lata ante apicali alba. 

 Long. IG lin. 



Velvety black, with scarcely any violet tint above ; distinctly 

 tinted with violet-blue below. Tlie wings nearly black on the 

 costa, shading into dark fuscous posteriorly, with slight bluish tmts 

 here and there. Near the apex of the wing there is a broad semi- 

 transparent white band. Alxlomen with a whitish silky spot on the 

 side of the basal segment beneath. 



Hab. Borneo. 



This species differs from C, liemii)terus , Fabr., from Java, chiefly 

 in having a white band across the wings. The thorax is, however 

 a Uttle more transverse. — C. O. Waterhouse. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1885. PART III. (SEPT.) 2c 



