Hymenoptera aculcata from Majorca and 82^111. 665 



and of V. bomhylans to the red-tailed and banded humble- 

 bees have been promoted by the special associations which 

 render the models peculiarly feasible in each respective 

 case. These Diptera live in the same habitats as their 

 models, and may be seen visiting the same flowers ; they 

 fly from nest to nest to deposit their eggs, and their first 

 flight on emergence from the puparium is made from the 

 home of an Aculeate community. It is obvious that their 

 mode of life bears a strong superficial resemblance to 

 that of their respective hosts, and that mimetic likeness 

 to these hosts would be far more convincing and advan- 

 tageous than to other species of Aculeates. 



Although mimicry is not necessarily dependent on a 

 mode of life which brings an insect into intimate relation- 

 ship with some widely-different form possessed of special 

 means of defence, yet such associations are very commonly 

 attended by mimicry. In this note it has been seen that 

 mimetic likeness may result when the relationship is 

 that between captor and prey, whether the prey be 

 defended by a sting or by some nauseous quality — that it 

 may result when the association is that of scavenger to an 

 Aculeate host. 



E. B. P. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1904.— PART III. (sEPT.) 43 



