962 JOVMNAL, BOMBAY NATVRAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



collaris, Lepel .. Sikliim and Thibet ..Himalayan, Indo-Malayan 



and Ceylonese sub-region 

 occurring also in Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Java, the Phil- 

 lipines and Malaca. 



refuscens, Smith . . Rangoon, Bombay, E. Himalayas, S. India, 



Coonoor and Karwar. Bengal, Burma, Java, 



Sumatra, Borneo and 

 the Andaman Islands. 



It will be seen from the table that though the genus Xyhcopa is fairly well 

 represented in the collection of the Society, many species remain to be added, 

 and diligent collecting by our members, besides adding to the collection will no 

 doubt also reveal many new and interesting forms. 



CEDRIC DOVER. 



Indian Mitsexjm, 

 Calcutta, February 1921. 



No. XXVIII.— CURIOUS CASE OF PROTECTIVE MIMICRY 

 IN A CATERPILLAR. 



It is after the lapse of many years that I am once more taking advantage 

 of your columns to bring to notice a curious case of protective mimicry in an 

 undetermined species of caterpillar, and this I am doing in the hopes that one 

 of your readers may assist me to its identification. 



I came across the specimen in question during the rains at Ahmedabad, 

 Guzerat. It was feeding on a shrub in the garden and was nearly ready to turn, 

 but unfortunately I did not succeed in rearing it and I never obtained a second 

 specimen. The creature was about 1| inches long, of a general transparent 

 olive-brown tint, suffused with opaque blue-grey, the central segments darker, 

 and the caudal segment ashy white. The forepart was thickened forming a 

 hump tapering to a stem, terminated by a globule. There are many cases of 

 caterpillars, moths, beetles, spiders, etc., imitating the excreta of birds for 

 their protection, but I venture to think that a more wonderful case of such 

 mimicry does not exist ; on the assumption that protective mimicry is the result 

 of natural selection and not of continuous acts of conscious voUtion on the 

 part of the animal profiting by it it seems to me that this case raises very 

 many interesting points. 



Firstly the apparently superfluous perfection of the imitation. 



Suppose a Japanese artist set to reproduce faithfully a bird's dropping, and 

 provided with the best materials possible, one can imagine him obtaining a 

 perfect resemblance as regards colour, shape and consistence. 



But a true artist does not rest satisfied with a mere servile copy. He must 

 introduce some incident, some point of interest and we have it in our present 

 example. 



There is the fall of the excrement on to a leaf, the splash, the drying up of the 

 upper portion, represented by the lighter ash colour, the main blob and elonga- 

 tion of the lower portion into a stem with a drop at the end indicating its moist 

 and sticky nature. 



Conscious art could no further go. The work is complete. It is now for the 

 creature to profit by it. It is obvious that a caterpillar's normal position would 

 destroy the illusion, for the liquid drop would be standing upright. The 

 creature therefore adopts another position and attaching itself by its tail near 



