368 Professor E. B. Poulton on 
from behind. On one occasion he alighted only an inch 
behind the female. 
The only movements observed in the female after 
alighting were of the head, but the male often fluttered 
his wings. 
Pairing took place after the courtship had been watched 
for six minutes, during which the insects flew and alighted 
several times. The male seized the female in the air 
after she had flown a short distance, and both fell to the 
eround together from a height of about eight inches. 
Copulation probably occurred the instant the insects 
reached the ground, but the movements were too rapid to 
be followed. In flight the female supported the male, 
but the horizontal position of the latter was apparently 
maintained by the use of his wings. When the female 
alighted the male always hung in a vertical position. 
Coitus was not terminated by capture, or even by 
boxing. 
The courtship of another pair was watched on the same 
morning and in the same locality. Coitws was not seen, 
the insects being lost after 12} minutes of observation. 
In this case the female when settled moved her abdomen 
up and down. Movements of the third pair of legs were 
also seen, while those of the head were frequent and pro- 
nounced. The male also sometimes faced the female, and 
once or twice darted down upon her, certainly touching 
some part of her dorsal surface.* After one of the flights, 
when they had come to rest upon a couple of flower-heads 
about two inches apart, the male more than once took a 
turn in the air round the female, and then returned to his 
flower-head. In spite of the differences here stated, the 
relative positions of male and female were generally 
similar to those of the last pair. In fact, the positions first 
taken up after each flight of the female are probably 
characteristic. 
Dasypogon (Selidopogon) diadema, a mimic of its most 
conspicuous victims, 
The dark-winged, dark-bodied Dasypogon diadema is 
undoubtedly mimetic of the Hymenoptera Aculeata. 
* A male, watched on the previous day, July 23, also appeared to 
dart at and touch the female. The observation was made in the same 
locality, and the female was in this instance carrying a bee. 
