254 THEORIES OF MIMICRY 



recently been analysed in much detail by Portschinski. 1 

 This acute observer considers that the head of the larva 

 represents the globular abdomen of the ant, while the 

 head and antennae of the latter are suggested by the larval 

 caudal shield with its two appendages. He believes that 

 the disturbed larva represents an ant which has seized 

 and is endeavouring to carry off some object on the 

 branch which it is exploring. Under these circumstances 

 the head of the ant, with its mandibles fixed in the object, 

 would be held low and remain motionless, while the 

 abdomen would be elevated and the legs in constant 

 activity, moving the posterior part of the body from side 

 to side. Such an appearance and such movements, he 

 maintains, are strongly suggested by the disturbed larva 

 if we only identify the posterior end of the mimic with 

 the anterior end of the model. I have to thank Professor 

 W. R. Morfill for very kindly translating the memoir of 

 the Russian naturalist. During the summer of 1898 

 I had the opportunity of studying these larvae. The 

 young caterpillars were thought to be ants by all the 

 friends to whom they were shown. One lady considered 

 that they were ' double ants ' an interpretation evidently 

 due to their disproportionate length and to the head-like 

 appearance of the caudal shield. Drawings of the larvae 

 at this stage were made by Mr. P. J. Bayzand and are 

 reproduced in Fig. 2 (p .253), but they fail to convey the 

 ant-like appearance which depends so largely on move- 

 ment. I did not, however, observe any attitudes which 

 support the details of Portschinski's interpretation, nor 

 did I witness the appearances which he figures. 2 His 

 comparison of the caudal appendage with a head was, on 

 the other hand, entirely confirmed. 



Turning to other Orders which supply examples of the 

 mimicry of ants, the Hemiptera have perhaps the farthest 

 distance to travel in the modification of their flattened 

 bodies. A beautiful example from East Africa, viz. that 

 of Myrmoplasta mira (Gerstaecker), is shown in Fig. 3. 

 Gerstaecker states that a single specimen of this insect 



1 Coloration marquanteet Taches ocelle'es, V. : St. Petersburg, 1897, p. 44. 

 .\. c. p. 45, fig. 21. 



