.' 



MIMICRY 217 



spider's liking. Melipona apicalis is a black insect with 

 white wing-tips, and it is not only common but there 

 are one or two other species of the same genus coloured 

 exactly like it. These black and white Meliponas are 

 mimicked very closely by many other insects, e.g. by 

 two Braconids, by a Chalcid Megalocolus notator, by 

 two Diptera Toxophora sp. and Holocephala sp., by a 

 Longicorn beetle Epania singaporensis, by a Plume- 

 Moth, by a Reduviid bug, by a Capsid bug, and a 

 Homopterous bug. Trigona lactcifasciata is not so 

 common, and I have only found two mimics of it, a 

 Capsid bug and a fly. It was interesting, then, to see 

 that the spider instantly recognized the distasteful nature 

 of the common, widely mimicked species, but had to 

 seize the rarer species in its mouth before deciding 

 that it was bad to eat. The Trigonas are stingless, 

 but they swarm round the head of any one disturbing 

 their nests, and bite with great vigour ; they have, 

 moreover, a rather disagreeable odour. To return to 

 our experiments. A Muscid fly flew into the web of 

 its own accord, and was instantly captured and its 

 juices sucked. A small brown plant-bug, Riptortus sp. 

 (Fam. Coreidce), which I put into the web, was also 

 eaten. The little black and yellow Reduviid, Cosmo- 

 lestes picticeps, a very conspicuous and abundant species, 

 was at once treated like Trigona apicalis. The similarly 

 coloured but much larger species, Velinus nigrigenu, 

 was approached with great caution by the spider. She 

 just touched the bug with her palpi, and then started 

 away, probably nervous of the powerful rostrum of 

 this species ; the strands in which the insect was 

 entangled were cut at a greater distance from it than 

 usual, so that a large hole was left in the web after 



