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XX. The Protective Besemhlancc to Jlowcrs home hy an 

 Africa7i Hoiiwpterous Insect, Flata nigrocincta, 

 Walker. By Sidney Langford Hinde. Com- 

 municated by Prof. Edward B. Poulton, M.A., 

 D.Sc, F.R.S. ■ 



[Read June 4th, 1902.] 



Plates XXVI and XXVII. 



The "cluster of insects grouped to resemble a flower 

 spike " which forms the frontispiece of Professor J. W. 

 Gregory's " Great Rift Valley " (London, 1896) has attracted 

 much attention and interest, as well as a certain amount 

 of criticism. As I have had many opportunities of seeing 

 the insect, and still oftener its larvae, in the wild state, in 

 British East Africa, and have drawings of both in situ 

 made upon the spot by my wife, it seems desirable to 

 pubHsh the evidence. 



Professor Gregory's plate was apparently drawn in 

 England from his description and the dried specimens. 

 In the insects grouped on the vertical stem the green 

 individuals occupying the uppermost position (Fig. 1) are 

 represented as considerably smaller than the red ones 

 below, like the unopened green buds towards the top of a 

 flowering spike as compared with the expanded blossoms 

 below. On the other hand, the separate representations 

 of the green (Fig. 8) and red forms (Fig. 2) of the insect, 

 as well as the description on pages 273-275 of the work, 

 indicate that there is no difference in size between the two. 

 My own experience entirely confirms this latter conclusion, 

 and there is no doubt that the impression conveyed by 

 Fig. 1 is in this respect erroneous. Furthermore, the 

 uniform deep pink colour of the exposed parts of the 

 insects represented in Figs. 1 and 2 of the frontispiece is 

 incorrect. The colours of the red foims of the living insect 

 are as shown on the accompanying Plate XXVI, being of a 

 bright orange-red anteriorly passing into a reddish-orange 

 over the remainder of the surface exposed in the attitude 

 of rest. 



Furthermore, I have never seen the insects grouped 

 according to their colours, but invariably mixed ; I have 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1902. — PART IV. (DEC.) 46 



