232 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



that more has been written about mimicry among 

 these attractive insects than among other orders. And 

 yet I feel sure that a close study of any other group 

 will convince the observer that mimicry is very wide- 

 spread throughout the insect class, and is everywhere 

 of as great interest as in Lepidoptera. Mimicry 

 amongst Oriental butterflies has indeed become almost 

 a hackneyed subject, and I will therefore leave them 

 alone. I will here give a short sketch of mimicry in 

 one class of beetles, the Longicorns, which I studied 

 closely whilst in Borneo. 



The mimetic Longicorns of Borneo may be divided 

 into three groups : (i) those that mimic Hymen- 

 optera ; (ii) those that mimic other beetles ; (iii) those 

 that mimic other and presumably distasteful species 

 of Longicorns. It may be mentioned here that the 

 Longicornia are divided into three families, the 

 Lamiidce, the Cerambycidce, and the Prionidce ; the 

 latter contains no mimetic species in Borneo, and so 

 for our purpose may be ignored ; the other two 

 families are divided into several sub-families, most of 

 which include mimetic species. 



In the first group we find many of the Phytceciince 

 a sub-family of Lamiidce, These include the Obereas, 

 to which attention has already been drawn, and two 

 allied genera, all of which mimic BraconidcK. One 

 member of the huge genus Glenea resembles a little 

 blue sawfly. Turning to the Cerambycidce we find in 

 the sub-family Callichromince three large species of 

 Nothopens mimicking the formidable Fossorial Wasps of 

 the genera Salius and Mygnimia. The latter is known 

 to provision its nests with the huge poisonous 

 Tarantula Spiders, which it seeks out in their lairs, 



