the Relative Edibility of Insects. 61 
audible noise. The larger species have formidable jaws. 
It is therefore no matter for surprise that M. showed the 
strongest dislike to eight of the fourteen species offered 
him, and to three others a certain amount of dislike. 
Three others were eaten without evidence of distaste, but 
in one case there was stress of hunger; one of them was 
small and delicately made, and perhaps not odoriferous, 
while the other (235) was a mimic and had certainly lost 
the Carabid odour. 
Besides this very close mimic I think that 25, 45, 168, are 
of a type of colouring approaching the Mutillid aposeme, 
though this did not strike me at the time. Dr. G. A. K. 
Marshall figures some of them in his paper on the bionomics 
of §. African insects (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1902, pp. 
511-5, pl. xvii, figs. 1-20). 
The contrast between the treatment allotted to Cicindelidae 
and to Carabidae is interesting, seeing that species of Cicin- 
delids met with seemed sometimes to mimic Carabidae. 
It is also worth noting that the polished black larva 
(Obs. 212) was treated as extremely distasteful. This 
may be compared with the remarks on the Hymenoptera 
in their immature stages. 
Bes Obs. No. Name. Colour. ities | Remarks. 
Polymorpha. 
Silphidae. 
199 | 419, 440 | Stlpha micans F. A —— | A sea-green beetle found 
| on a giraffe skull, 
Exactly the same remarks may be made of this and the 
following family as of the Copridae. 
Histeridae. 
21 | 31,304 | Hister validus Hrichs. A © Plat, smooth, polished 
black. 
135 299 Saprinus rasselas Mars. A ———| Greenish- black. Found 
under a bone. 
136 | 300, 303 | Saprinus cruciatus T. AA \|———|Bright orange elytra. 
Found with above. 
Coccinellidae. 
50 | 74, 121, | Alesta striata F. | LS Pink and black.:\Common 
dal, 559 | on grass tips. 
98 | 207,370, | Bpilachna chrysomelina F. A | +-+ | Dull orange, black spots. 
410 Very abundant. Emitted 
acrid yellow fluid from 
joints when handled. 
254 | 521, 526 | Epilachna paykulli Muls. A + Dull pink, black dots. 
Very abundant. 
51 83 ? A + Bright pink and yellow 
with black marks. M. 
chose this for himself 
when out hunting. 
AA + |Shining black, two red 
spots. Emitted yellow 
fluid. 
88 179 
HF 
