1902.] SPIDERS FROM BORNEO AND SINGAPORE. 255 



of appreciation of its shoiicomings with which such lowly organisms 

 are not usually credited ? It seems to me more reasonable to 

 compare such mimetic examples to the pictures of a painter, who 

 strives not to make an exact copy of a scene or object, but to give 

 an essential idea or impression of it, unintelligible perhaps to 

 many, but full of significance to those for whom a picture is more 

 than a mere photograph in colours. 



[It is not necessary to adopt the improbable view that the 

 caterpillar has any " appreciation " of the situation, even if we 

 may reasonably believe that the mimetic resemblance is aided by 

 partial concealment. A larva living among leaves is apt to be 

 partially concealed by them and to be protected by the conceal- 

 ment. The appropriate attitude would ai-ise thi'ough natural 

 selection without the intervention of intelligence on the part of 

 the larva.— E. B. P.J 



The Qicophylla, one would imagine, has firmly established a 

 reputation for ferocity, and consequently the mimicking Geometer 

 larva can the more easily deceive its enemies, in spite of its too 

 elongate body. Only two specimens were found, both were walking 

 on leaves and were readily distinguishable ; but the violently 

 threatening attitude each assumed when irritated was unmi.stakable, 

 and the resemblance of the elevated posterior end to the ant so 

 striking, that it is difficult to imagine how a lizard or frog with a 

 previous experience of the ant could fail to be deterred. 



I shall have latei- to draw attention to a Spider which mimics 

 the same ant, but this is a case with a difierent significance, viz., 

 that the mimic may be enabled to prey undisturbed on its model. 



It is a curious coincidence that, in both the larva and the spider, 

 it is the posterior end that mimics the head of the ant — a 

 coincidence which possibly has its meaning. 



iii. Mimic. Phcmda limhata (Wllngrn.). Plate XXIII. fig. 3. 

 Model. Serinetlia ahdominalis (Fab.). Plate XXIII. fig. 2. 



The head, thorax, and coriaceous part of the elytra are, in this 

 Hemipteron, of a bright vermilion-red, whilst the membranous 

 part of the elytra, the legs, and antennae are black. The moth 

 has the head, thorax, costal margin, and basal half of the fore 

 wings also vermilion, with the remaining portion black, the hind 

 wings are coloured in the same way. I had long been familiar 

 with the moth from cabinet specimens, but until I went to 

 Singapore and saw the insect alive I had not suspected the 

 significance of this very striking coloiation. When the moth is in 

 a state of repose, resting, for example, on a plant-stem, the wings 

 are laid back and ovei'lap in the characteristic moth-like manner, 

 and in this attitude the resemblance to the bug is very striking 

 (compare figs. 3 & 2, Plate XXIII. ). The hind wings, although 

 entirely hidden, nevertheless serve the purpose of giving an 

 impression of complete opacity to the fore wings, the i-ed and 

 black areas of which in this attitude overlap the similar areas of 



