WARNING COLOURS AND MIMICRY 151 



they counterfeit various wasps and hornets, often with 

 marvellous fidelity. Their elytra, or wing-cases, are so 

 much shortened as to be quite inconspicuous — a character 

 very rare in the group to which these insects belong. In 

 this way the functional wings, whether in use or folded 

 above the abdomen, are always fully exposed to view, 

 just as they are in the case of a wasp or a hornet. Of 

 course the beetle has only two flying -wings, whereas 

 Hymenopterous insects always have four ; but this is a 

 detail which does not strike the casual observer, because 

 the beetle's wings are proportionately broad, with lobed 

 portions in the hind margins which suggest the presence 

 of a second pair. 



Dr. G. B. Longstaff, in his recently published work, 

 Butterfly Hunting in Many Lands, has the following 

 interesting note respecting one of these beetles which he 

 captured near Sydney in 1910. " On the flower of a 

 shrubby acacia, well within reach and clear sight, was, as 

 I thought, a fine wasp. It was easily netted, but not so 

 easily bottled. I pursued it up and down the net with 

 the cyanide-bottle, taking great care not to be stung. 

 Once corked up I thought no more about it, until on 

 turning out the bottle after the day's work I found a 

 black and orange Longicorn beetle ! " 



Not a few dominant, well - protected beetles are 

 mimicked by their weaker kindred, or by insects of other 

 orders. Thus, tiger- beetles are avoided on account of 

 their ferocity, and are mimicked by certain inoffensive 

 beetles ; while in the Philippine Islands a harmless cricket 

 so exactly resembles a tiger-beetle from the same locality 

 that even experienced naturalists have been deceived by 

 the likeness. Again, the appearance of hardness is pos- 

 sessed by certain beetles which, in reality, are not hard at 

 all. This is doubtless due to the fact that other beetles 



