OUR ANTS. 21 



rushes and pauses he copied closely. In the neighbourhood of 

 almost every strong colony of Cremastoyaster contenta (Mayr), a 

 mimicking spider may be found, moving about at a jog trot, and 

 waving his abdomen in the air, exactly like Ore mastog aster. Among 

 insects, I have taken a good many specimens of a bug, which has 

 achieved a very fair imitation of Polyrachis spiiiigera (under the 

 same stone with which it may often be found), even to the extent of 

 evolving a pedicle and spines, on what, were it an ant, would be its 

 metanotum. Curiously enough, however, these spines are apparently 

 not alike, in any two specimens. Is it, that this bug is still waitino- 

 for one of its race to accidentally sport spines, more like those of 

 P. spinigera, and thus to set the ball of evolution rolling afresh ? or, is 

 it, that the present rough copy of the spines of spinigera, is found suffi- 

 cient to deceive, such a short-sighted, or rather, such an ' indistinctly 

 seeing' creature, as an ant, even at the shortest distance ? In life, this 

 bug ' humps' his back in exact imitation of Polyrachis, and it is asto- 

 nishing how the loss of this gibbous outline, after the death of the bug, 

 detracts from its likeness to Spinigera, as far as the human eye is 

 concerned. Another, rather common, species. of hemipteron has not 

 taken the trouble to change his shape. It is of the ordinary shape 

 of the 'wild' bug, but, by the evolution of judicious patches of white, 

 which are practically invisible, the remaining dark portion of his 

 body simulates, very closely, the outline of a small ant, pedicle, and all 

 complete. I have often collected these nuisances (after an exciting 

 chase) for, what I hoped was, a new species of ant. The fact that, at 

 any rate in this case, the mimicry* is only effective from above, seems 

 distinctly to point to protective coloration. There is no accountincr 

 for tastes, yet, f ronj. the narrow human point of view, it does seem 

 astonishing, that any creature should exist, with so depraved a taste, 

 as to prefer this foul-smelling mouthful to an ant, even though the 

 formic acid of the latter, might make it taste rather * hot i' the 

 mouth.' The only other unmistakable case of mimicry I have met 

 is by an Ampulex (one of the Aculeata, and therefore a comparatively 

 near relation of the ants). Mr. Rothney has recorded this mimicking 

 insect in his paper, and I have noted my observations on it further 



* Since this was written I have taken specimens of several species of Ptezoma- 

 chus which, though not imitating any special kind of ant and perfect mimics of an 

 ideal ant. 



