1896. ] EXPEDITION ON THE LOWER AMAZON. 777 
For some reason we did not meet with a single specimen of 
the well-known ‘fire-flies” belonging to the genus Pyrophorus, 
either on the Para River or the Amazon itself, although I believe 
they were found by Mr. Pickard Cambridge in the forest. near 
Santarem. Fire-flies of the family Lampy ride, however, of which 
our common English Glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca, L.) is a 
well-known example, visited the ship in numbers by night as we 
proceeded up the river. They were especially conspicuous in the 
Monte Alegre furo on the night of Feb. 17, flashing out like 
sparks against the dark background of trees, and scintillating at 
intervals as they occasionally floated over our launch. Most of 
the species collected belong to the genus Aspidosoma, including 
among others A. maculatum, Deg., and A. hesperum, L. In the 
campo at Santarem on Jan. 29 we took a handsome species of Dung- 
Beetle (Phaneus mimas, L.), the passage of some cattle along the 
sandy road affording us an opportunity of observing the wonderful 
rapidity with which these beetles appear on the scene and bury 
themselves within a few minutes of the requisite attraction being 
provided for them. 
The only other insects to which I need now refer are the 
Dragonflies (Neuroptera Odonata). As might naturally be expected 
in such a land of waters this Order was perhaps more in evidence 
than any other, and was particularly well represented in indi- 
viduals, although the actual number of species met with was not 
very great. Though some of the species, again, were exceedingly 
beautiful in colour when alive, in size they in no way surpassed 
our British forms. The remarkable ease with which a Dragonfly, 
even when coming straight towards his would-be captor, contrives 
to elude the net is well known; for some reason I invariably 
found the rarer species the most difficult to catch; the common 
ones gave little trouble. I frequently had the opportunity of 
observing how a Dragonfly drinks; hovering motionless a foot or 
two above the water he suddeuly makes a sharp dart forwards at 
it, striking it with his mouth and the underside of the thorax, and 
at once withdrawing to his previous position; the process is 
repeated several times. 
Mimicry.—Three cases of apparently genuine mimicry among 
Insects, which came under my notice, seem worthy of mention. 
The first, which has probably not been recorded before, is that 
of a small Clearwing Moth (fam. Sesiide), which is an almost 
exact replica of a Wasp (Polybia phthisica, F.), of which I. obtained 
several specimens at Manaos and the Parana de Buyassu. In size 
and general coloration the two insects are the same, and the pattern 
of orange and black stripes on the thorax of the Wasp is copied so 
closely by the Moth that at a little distance it would puzzle even 
an entomologist to distinguish the two species. Unfortunately, I 
only obtained a single specimen of the Clearwing; it is not repre- 
sented in the Museum collection, and is very probably new. 
The second case of apparent mimicry, to which I wouid draw 
attention, is that of the Dipterous genus Calobata, alluded to above. 
