MIMICRY 235 



yellow streaks. When Dr. Wallace was collecting in 

 Borneo in 1854-6 he noted the resemblance between 

 Elelea concinna and a Brenthid, and remarked of the 

 mimic that it carried its antennae "straight and close 

 together, appearing like a Brenthus" [Note 18, p. 316], 

 When the insects are pinned out in the cabinet it is a 

 little difficult to convince sceptics of the close resemblance 

 between these mimics and models, for the antennas of 

 the Longicorns in drying assume slightly unnatural 

 positions, so it is comforting to have one's observa- 

 tions on the living insects confirmed by so acute a 

 naturalist as Dr. A. R. Wallace. 



Another of the Mesosines, Zelota spathomelina, has 

 already been noted as an Endomychid mimic. The 

 very aberrant Trachystola granulata, of the sub-family 

 Dorcadionince, is a good mimic of the powerful and 

 rather repulsive-looking black weevil, Sipalus granul- 

 atus. A very similar instance of mimicry has been 

 recorded from South Africa by my friend Mr. Guy 

 Marshall, but I confess that I am rather at a loss to 

 explain why the weevil should be mimicked by the 

 Longicorn ; the great hardness of the chitinous skeleton 

 may be the explanation, and certainly the weevil looks 

 to the human eye a highly indigestible morsel. Many 

 species of the large Lamiid sub-families Saperdince and 

 Astatheince resemble most closely Phytophagous beetles 

 of the family Galerucidce. These latter are all bril- 

 liantly or conspicuously coloured, are excessively 

 abundant in species as well as in individuals, and 

 there is some evidence to show that they are un- 

 palatable insects. It is not unlikely that their mimics 

 are also unpalatable and that the mimicry is Mullerian 

 rather than Batesian, but more information is required 



