114 THE VALUE OF COLOUR 



MIMICRY-BATESIAN OR PSEUDAPOSEMATIC, 

 MULLERIAN OR SYNAPOSEMATIC 



The existence of superficial resemblances be- 

 tween animals of various degrees of affinity must 

 have been observed for hundreds of years. Among 

 the early examples, the best known to me have 

 been found in the manuscript notebooks and 

 collections of W. J. Burchell, the great traveller 

 in Africa (1810-15) and Brazil (1825-30). The 

 most interesting of his records on this subject 

 are brought together in the following paragraphs. 



Conspicuous among well-defended insects are 

 the dark steely or iridescent greenish blue fos- 

 sorial wasps or sand-wasps, SpJiex and the allied 

 genera. Many Longicorn beetles mimic these in 

 colour, slender shape of body and limbs, rapid 

 movements, and the readiness with which they 

 take to flight. On Dec. 21, 1812, Burchell 

 captured one such beetle (Promeces viridis) at Kosi 

 Fountain on the journey from the source of the 

 Kuruman River to Klaarwater. It is correctly 

 placed among the Longicorns in his catalogue, 

 but opposite to its number is the comment 'Sphex ! 

 totus purpureus '. 



In our own country the black-and-yellow colour- 

 ing of many stinging insects, especially the 

 ordinary wasps, affords perhaps the commonest 

 model for Mimicry. It is reproduced with more 

 or less accuracy on moths, flies and beetles. 

 Among the latter it is again a Longicorn which 



