102 



THE GENESIS OF SPECIES. 



[CHAP. III. 



or spectres, to which this insect belongs, is more or 

 imitative, and a great number of the species are called 

 'walking-stick insects,' from their singular resemblance 

 to twigs and branches." 



Again, Mr. Wallace l tells us of as many as four kinds 

 of orioles, wjiich birds mimic, more or less, four species of 



THE LONG-TAILED BIRD OF PARADISE. 



a genus of honey-suckers, the weak orioles finding their 

 profit in being mistaken by certain birds of prey for the 

 strong, active, and gregarious honey-suckers. Now many 

 qther birds would be benefited by similar mimicry, which 

 is none the less confined, in this part of the world, to the 

 oriole genus. It is true that the absence of mimicry in 



1 "Malay Archipelago," vol. ii. p. 150 ; and " Natural Selection," p. 104. 



