\ 
the Relative Edibility of Insects. oe 
1. The Longicorn beetle DirpuyA stmiuis (No. 52) mimick- 
ung one of the very large Braconids. 
This beetle is slender, and its likeness to the narrow body 
of the Braconid is accentuated by the disposition of the 
colours on the sides of the abdomen. Its orange and black 
colours very closely resemble those of the Braconid, and the 
antennae and legs in both are long and conspicuous, so that 
on the wing the beetle may readily be mistaken (Proc. 
Ent. Soc. Lond., 1918, pp. exl, exh). Obs. 98 shows 
that the monkey M,, more or less well fed, would have 
nothing to do with this beetle; indeed he regarded it 
with extreme dislike. On the next morning, however, 
before the monkey had eaten anything, he took the beetle 
and, after examination and tasting, ate .it slowly. M, 
treated it at first as very distasteful, but after careful study 
ate it with appreciation. It is difficult to say whether this 
is a case of pseudaposematic resemblance (Batesian, or 
true, mimicry) or of synaposematic resemblance (Miillerian 
mimicry). The only other aposematic Longicorns I have 
tested (see Obs. 646, 656, 857) were treated as distasteful. 
It may be argued that the only three Braconids tested in 
these experiments are listed as +-; but three single experi- 
ments all done in sequence will not convince me that the 
very typically aposematic large Braconids are not distasteful, 
in light of the evidence of the tables and chart in Section IV ! 
2. The Carabid beetle (235) EccopropTERA CUPRICOLLIS 
munucking the Mutillid scheme of colour. 
The beetle has dull red head and thorax and black elytra 
with four white spots. It appears to have lost the character- 
istic Carabid odour, but has acquired the gait of a Mutilla. 
M, appeared very afraid of this (Obs. 484), and pawed it 
violently, escaping out of reach after each attack, finally 
picking it up very quickly and hastily crunching it up as he 
did with those Mutillids that he ate. The fear of this 
beetle was far greater than it would have been had it been 
dressed in a normal Carabid livery, since for a medium-sized 
Carabid it was inoffensive-looking. One cannot avoid the 
feeling that the Mutilloid appearance accounted for his care 
not to be hurt by it. M, at first also treated this beetle as 
very objectionable (Obs. 695), but subsequently ate it with 
relish. Dr. G. A. K. Marshall in his paper on the Bionomics 
of S. African insects remarked upon the perfection of the 
mimicry of this beetle (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1902, pp. 
511-2; see also Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1918, p. xeviii). 
