538 ■ Mr. O. A. K. ^Marshall on 



B. Group of Yellow Haavptcra ttu'th Blade Ajjc.c and one 

 or two Black Bars (Represented on Plate XIX). 



At Malveni, Natal. 



Piirrhocoridx: Rcdnviidx. 



Dysdercus nigroCasciatus Phonootonus iiigrofasciatus 

 (fig. 49). (fig. 48). 



At Salisbury, Mashonalaiul. 



Pyrrhocoridic. ll^du viidee.. 



Dysdtucus .super.stitiosiis (fig. 50). riionoctoiius forinosus (fig. 52). 

 ,, intermedins (fig. 51). 



The significance of the mimicry in this group has not 

 yet been tested by experiment, and the exact relationship 

 of the Reduviids to the common and undoubtedly distaste- 

 ful Bi/sdrrci is not quite clear. Dr. Dimock Brown, who 

 observed Plionodonus in company with myself at Malvern, 

 suggested that its colouring may be pseudepisematic, and 

 that it may feed upon the Dysdercus which it mimics so 

 marvellously well. Personally I incline rather to the 

 belief that both this species and tlie northern P. formosus 

 are Batesian mimics. Both species occur but rarely (in- 

 deed, of the latter, I know only two specimens), they 

 do not possess the strong smell which characterizes 

 some of the Reduviids, and their jointed rostrum is a 

 very inefhcient weapon for protective purposes. I am 

 not aware that they have been observed feeding on Bi/s- 

 dcrci or even in company with them (cf. G. Breddin, 

 Zeitsch. f. Naturw. 189G, pp. 36-38). 



[Breddin considers the reseuiblance of the Reduviid to 

 be a case of aggressive (pseuiiepisenuitic) mimicry, as 

 he thinks with Dr. Dimock Brown it would prey on the 

 Dysdercus. I believe that all such groups in the Hemiptera 

 are synaposomatic. — E. B. P.] 



35. MiscELL.vNEous Ob.servations on South African 

 Insects. (G. A. K. M.) 



A. Note on the Courtship:) of Liinnas clirysippus. 



Salisbury, June 26, 1900. — In some old notes I find 

 the following observation on the courtship of chrysip>pus. 

 When first observed the female was settled on the 



