220 



ANIMAL LIFE 



mimicked by members of the other butterfly families (espe- 

 cially the Pieridae), to which family our common white 

 cabbage-butterfly belongs, and by the swallow-tails (Papi- 

 lionidse). 



The bees and wasps are protected by their stings. They 

 are usually conspicuous, being banded with yellow and black. 

 They are mimicked by numerous other insects, especially 

 moths and flies, two defenseless kinds of insects. This 

 mimicking of bees and wasps by flies is very common, and 

 can be observed readily at any flowering shrub. The flower- 

 flies (Syrphidae), which, with the bees, visit flowers, can be 

 distinguished from the bees only by sharp observing. When 

 these bees and flies can be caught and examined in hand, it 

 will be found that the flies have but two wings while the 

 bees have four. 



A remarkable and interesting case of mimicry among 

 insects of different orders is that of certain South Ameri- 

 can tree-hoppers (of the family Membracidae, of the order 

 Hemiptera), which mimic the famous leaf -cutting ant 

 (Saufia) of the Amazons (Fig. 140). These ants have the 

 curious habit of cutting off, with their sharp jaws, bits of 



green leaves and carry- 

 ing them to their nests. 

 In carrying the bits of 

 leaves the ants hold them 

 vertically above their 

 heads. The leaf-hoppers 

 mimic the ants and their 

 burdens with remarka- 

 ble exactitude by having 

 the back of the body ele- 

 vated in the form of a 



thin, jagged-edged ridge no thicker than a leaf. This part 

 of the body is green like the leaves, while the under part 

 of the body and the legs are brown like the ants. 



Some examples of mimicry among other animals than 



FIG. 140. Tree-hopper (Membracidae), which 

 mimics the leaf-cutting ant (Sauba) of Bra- 

 zil. (Upper right-hand insect is the tree- 

 hopper.) 



