234 MR. R. SHELFORD Olfi MIMETIC INSECTS AXD [NoV. 4, 



are pronounced to be fully adult by that well-known authority on 

 the Orthoptera., Mr. Malcolm Burr. 



Bearing in mind the errors made by Westwood and Duponchel 

 with regard to this insect, I made a careful search through the 

 Sarawak Museum collection of Cicindelidse, and was rewarded by 

 finding yet another example of this remarkable mimic placed 

 amongst specimens of Tricondyla gihha (Chaud.), which it most 

 closely resembles as regards size, coloration, &c. The specimen 

 was smaller than those described above and is evidently a younger 

 stage, but it differs in hardly any other way ; and T. gihba, 

 the model, also differs from T. cyanea var. tvaUacei principally 

 in size (compare Plate XIX. figs. 3 & 4). 



A fourth specimen, of a very early stage, was taken in Kuching 

 on the flowers of a flowering tree, frequented also by numerous 

 insects of all orders, amongst others being the Cicindelid, Collyris 

 saraioakensis (Thoms.), which serves as a model to the young 

 Condylodera (Plate XIX. figs. 5 & 6). At this stage, the insect is 

 entirely dark blue, except the legs which are dark brown, and the 

 greater part of the long antennae which are ochreous, the four 

 basal joints only being blue. The prothorax shows no trace of the 

 conspicuous puncturation of the adult, nor is it swollen as in the 

 later stages, but more or less cylindrical like that of its model ; 

 the wing-rudiments are not yet visible, and the auditory organ 

 on the fore-tibipe can only be distinguished with difficulty. The 

 model is somewhat larger, of a uniform dark blue with the legs 

 dark brown. It is somewhat curious that the young Condylodera 

 does not mimic Collyris emarginata (MacL), a smaller species with 

 red legs, especially since in the later stages it is red-legged species 

 of Oicindelidse that are mimicked ; C. emarginata is, however, of 

 a much more brilliant blue than any other Bornean members 

 of the genus, or than the species of Tricondyla. This case of 

 mimicry appears to me to be of exceptional interest and without 

 a parallel. I have shown that Hymenoiius hicornis^ a floral 

 simulator throughout the greater part of its life, mimics in 

 its young stages the larvae of a bug ; but I know of no ameta- 

 bolous insect, except Condylodera tricondyloides, which mimics 

 difierent species of one family during the successive periods of its 

 growth. 



iii. Mimic. Gi^yllacris n. sp. vicinissima nigratm (Br.). 

 Plate XIX. fig. 8. 

 Model. Pherojisophus agnatus (Chaud.). Plate XIX. fig. 7. 



The model in this instance is one of the " Bombardier Beetles," 

 and discharges, when seized or irritated, a jet of formic acid 

 vapour quite powerful enough to scorch the skin of the finger 

 severely and to leave an indelible brown stain on paper or cloth. 

 The insect is quite conspicuous, being black with orange spots on 

 the dorsal sui'face of the thorax and tegmina ; the legs and 

 antennae are entirely orange. The Locustid is somewhat la.rger, 



