MIMICRY 237 



banded with shining blue, Daphisia pulchella, which 

 bears a close resemblance to two species of Callimerus 

 belonging to the family of beetles known as Cleridce. 

 This example is of interest because the Cleridce them- 

 selves are essentially a mimetic family ; some of them, 

 for instance, mimic Mutillidce, little Hymenoptera the 

 females of which are wingless ; others resemble Coccin- 

 ellidce, others Lycidce. It has been suggested that 

 these mimetic Cleridce are protected insects, and there- 

 fore that their mimicry is Miillerian rather than 

 Batesian. It is often assumed that if one or two 

 members of a family or sub-family are distasteful there- 

 fore all are distasteful ; in fact, palatability or the re- 

 verse are regarded as deep-seated characteristics of the 

 group. I see no reason to believe that this is true in 

 every case ; it is no doubt true that amongst butter- 

 flies all Danaines, all the Ithomiines, all Acraeines are 

 unpalatable, but I would hesitate to apply the same 

 canon to the Cleridce. Many Clerids are cryptically 

 coloured, and therefore presumably non-protected 

 species ; but though the species of Callimerus 

 mimicked by Daphisia are probably nauseous, I see 

 no reason to assume that the mimetic species of the 

 family are nauseous too ; they may well be palatable 

 Batesian mimics. Turning now to the Cerambycidce, 

 we find mimetic species amongst four sub-families, 

 Ephies dilaticornis (Lepturince), four species of Erythrus 

 and a Pyrestes (Pyrestince) mimic Lycidce t while a 

 species of Erythrus mimics a green and red " soldier " 

 beetle. The Lycid mimics were found in great abun- 

 dance on Mt. Matang, and though they are coloured 

 with the red-and-black livery of the Lycidce, they 

 present quite a distinctive appearance of their own, 



