os 
—_— 
1902. ] SPIDERS FROM BORNEO AND SINGAPORE. 
enjoys is doubtless due to the closeness of its resemblance to an 
equally conspicuous Salius, an ally of which has already been 
noted as the model of a Longicorn beetle. The fore wing of the 
Laphria is large, almost as broad as both fore and hind wing 
together of the Saliws and of the same clear golden-brown. The 
thorax, as in the wasp, is covered dorsally with a golden pubes- 
cence, whilst the abdomen, like that of the model, is black, and 
terminates in a sharp tufted point very suggestive of a sting. 
All the tibia and tarsi are ochreous, but the black and thickened 
femora are very unlike those of the Salius. No attempt at 
mimicking the long ochreous antenne of the wasp is made, as in 
some other Diptera shortly to be described (compare figs. 9 & 10, 
Plate XXII). The buzzing, noisy flight of this fly is very like 
that of its model. 
{In the natural attitude of rest it is probable that the black 
femora of the ty are held upright and near to the body, so that 
the ochreous parts of the legs would alone be conspicuous. It is 
noteworthy that the under sides of the anterior femora are 
ochreous, suggesting that the anterior limbs may in certain 
attitudes be raised, or, at any rate, that they are held so that this 
wrt IS More Conspicuous than any other femoral surface. It is 
probable that this special colouring is directed to meet a view 
from the front. It is to be hoped “hat future observations will 
be specially directed to these points. This fly belongs to the 
family of the Asilide (subfamily Laphrine), the most formidable 
and predaceous of Diptera, and it is quite possible that the 
resemblance to a wasp is Miillerian (synaposematic) rather than 
Batesian (pseudaposematic).—E. B. P.] 
Mimic. Hyperechia fera (v.d. Wulp). Plate XXII. fig 
Model. Vylocopa latipes (Drury). Plate XXII. fig. 1. 
No more remarkable proof of the plastic ity of the Dipterous 
form could be advanced than this remarkable insect. The lar ge, 
clumsy Yylocopa, with its bronzy wings and thick furry legs, 
would seem to be an eminently unsuitable and difficult model 0 
copy ; and it would be most instructive, if only it were possible, to 
trace the steps by which this fly has arrived at what at first sight 
appears to be the pitch of mimetic perfection. As a mi tter of 
fact the fly is extremely rare, and one can only conclude that the 
mimicry, exact though it seems, has failed to preserve the species 
as a dominant one. 
The head is characteristically Dipterous; the thorax is of 
shining blue-black, clothed with a fine dense pubescence, coarser 
and longer on the sides: ; the broad, flattened abdomen is laterally 
herdered with a fringe GE long ae exactly as is the case w ith 
the Xylocopa, and terminates in a fine tufted process suggesting 
a sting. As in JY, latipes, all the legs are remarkably hairy and 
sturdy, particularly the last pair, and are of much the same 
length. The wings are of a bluish-bronze hue : the downwardly- 
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