RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS. 105 
and cannot be placed near each other in any natural 
arrangement. As a proof that the resemblance is really 
deceptive, it may be mentioned that the Mimeta is 
figured and described as a honeysucker in the costly 
“Voyage de l’Astrolabe,” under the name of Philedon 
bouruensis ! . 
Passing to the island of Ceram, we find allied species 
of both genera. The Tropidorhynchus subcornutus is 
of an earthy brown colour washed with yellow ochre, 
with bare orbits, dusky cheeks, and the usual pale re- 
curved nape-ruff. The Mimeta forsteni is absolutely 
identical in. the tints of every part of the body, the 
details of which are imitated in the same manner as 
in the Bouru birds already described. In two other 
islands there is an approximation towards mimicry, 
although it is not so perfect as in the two preced- 
ing cases. In Timor the Tropidorhynchus timoriensis 
is of the usual earthy brown above, with the nape-ruff 
very prominent, the cheeks ‘black, the throat nearly 
white, and the whole under surface pale whitish brown. 
These various tints are all well reproduced in Mimeta 
virescens, the chief want of exact imitation being that 
the throat and breast of the Tropidorhynchus has a 
very scaly appearance, being covered with rigid pointed 
feathers which are not imitated in the Mimeta, although 
‘there are signs of faint dusky spots which may easily 
furnish the groundwork of a more exact imitation by 
the continued survival of favourable variations in the 
same direction. There is also a large knob at the base 
of the bill of the Tropidorhynchus which is not at all 
