NATURAL SELECTION 



of trees, as is the habit of that group. There is one curious 

 example of a Longicorn mimicking a Longicorn, like the 

 Papilios and Heliconidae which mimic their own allies. Agnia 

 fasciata, belonging to the sub-family Hypselominse, and 

 Nemophas grayi, belonging to the Lamiinse, were taken in 

 Amboyna on the same fallen tree at the same time, and were 

 supposed to be the same species till they were more carefully 

 examined, and found to be structurally quite different. The 

 colouring of these insects is very remarkable, being rich steel- 

 blue black, crossed by broad hairy bands of orange buff, and 

 out of the many thousands of known species of Longicorns 

 they are probably the only two which are so coloured. The 

 Nemophas grayi is the larger, stronger, and better armed 

 insect, and belongs to a more widely spread and dominant 

 group, very rich in species and individuals, and is therefore 

 most probably the subject of mimicry by the other species. 



Beetles mimicking other Insects 



We will now adduce a few cases in which beetles imitate 

 other insects, and insects of other orders imitate beetles. 



Charis melipona, a South American Longicorn of the 

 family Necydalidse, has been so named from its resemblance 

 to a small bee of the genus Melipona. It is one of the most 

 remarkable cases of mimicry, since the beetle has the thorax 

 and body densely hairy like the bee, and the legs are tufted 

 in a manner most unusual in the order Coleoptera. Another 

 Longicorn, Odontocera odyneroides, has the abdomen banded 

 with yellow, and constricted at the base, and is altogether so 

 exactly like a small common wasp of the genus Odynerus, 

 that Mr. Bates informs us he was afraid to take it out 

 of his net with his fingers for fear of being stung. Had 

 Mr. Bates' taste for insects been less omnivorous than it 

 was, the beetle's disguise might have saved it from his pin, as 

 it had no doubt often done from the beak of hungry birds. 

 A larger insect, Sphecomorpha chalybea, is exactly like one 

 of the large metallic blue wasps, and like them has the 

 abdomen connected with the thorax by a pedicel, rendering 

 the deception most complete and striking. Many Eastern 

 species of Longicorns of the genus Oberea, when on the wing, 

 exactly resemble Tenthredinidse, and many of the small 



