118 THE VALUE OF COLOUR 



genera and orders,' Feb. 15, 1829. Of another 

 Brazilian bug, which is not to be found in his 

 collection, and cannot therefore be precisely 

 identified, he wrote : ' Cimex . . . Nature seems to 

 have intended it to imitate a Sphex, both in colour 

 and the rapid palpitating and movement of the 

 antennae,' Nov. 15, 1826. At the same time 

 it is impossible not to feel the conviction that 

 Burchell felt the advantage of a likeness to sting- 

 ing insects and to aggressive ants, just as he 

 recognized the benefits conferred on desert plants 

 by spines and by concealment (see pp. 96-8). Such 

 an interpretation of Mimicry was perfectly con- 

 sistent with the theological doctrines of his day.^ 



The last note I have selected from Burchell's 

 manuscript refers to one of the chief mimics of 

 the highly protected Lycid beetles. The whole 

 assemblage of African insects with a Lycoid 

 colouring forms a most important combination 

 and one which has an interesting bearing upon 

 the theories of Bates and Fritz Miiller. This most 

 wonderful set of mimetic forms, described in 1902 

 by Guy A. K. Marshall, is composed of flower- 

 haunting beetles belonging to the family Lycidae, 

 and the heterogeneous series of varied insects 

 which mimic their conspicuous and simple scheme 

 of colouring. The Lycid beetles, forming the 

 centre or 'models' of the whole company, are 

 orange-brown in front for about two-thirds of the 



' See Kirby and Spence, An Introduction to Entomology (1st edit.), 

 London, ii. 1817, 223. 



