RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS, 91 
resemble. There are many species in India (like those 
figured by Professor Westwood in his “Oriental Ento- 
mology ’’) which have the hind legs very broad and 
densely hairy, so as exactly to imitate the brush-legged 
bees (Scopulipedes) which abound in the same country. 
In this case we have more than mere resemblance of 
colour, for that which is an important functional struc- 
ture in the one group is imitated in another whose 
habits render it perfectly useless. 
Mimicry among Beetles. 
It may fairly be expected that if these imitations of 
one creature by another really serve as a protection 
to weak and decaying species, instances of the same 
kind will be found among other groups than the Le- 
pidoptera ; and such is the case, although they are 
seldom so prominent and so easily recognised as those 
already pointed out as occurring in that order. A few 
very interesting examples may, however, be pointed out 
in most of the other orders of insects. The Coleop- 
tera or beetles that imitate other Coleoptera of distinct 
groups are very numerous in tropical countries, and 
they generally follow the laws already laid down as 
regulating these phenomena. The insects which others 
imitate always have a special protection, which leads 
them to be avoided as dangerous or uneatable by small 
insectivorous animals; some have a disgusting taste 
(analogous to that of the Heliconide); others have 
such a hard and stony covering that they cannot be 
crushed or digested ; while a third set are very active, 
