FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 321 



CHAPTER XV. 



MIMICRY. 



In the animal kingdom certain resemblances between 

 the members of one group and those of another, 

 considerably removed from it in the system of classi- 

 fication, have of late years been the subject of much 

 discussion. On the supposition that these resem- 

 blances have been acquired, and are designed to serve 

 some purpose in the economy of nature, the term 

 " mimicry" has been applied to them. Subsequently 

 it has been proposed to substitute another term, that 

 of " homoplasy," but this has not met with general 

 acceptance ; we have, therefore, adopted the older 

 term. Mr. H. W. Bates first introduced the subject 

 to notice, with some very striking examples of " mi- 

 metic resemblances " in Lepidopterous insects, which 

 have since been much augmented by others. Very 

 few allusions have hitherto been made to such resem- 

 blances in plants, although Mr. A. Bennett 1 has 

 opened the question, and with these organisms the 

 subject is still in a very elementary stage. It shall 



1 Mimicry in Plants in " Popular Science Review," vol. xi. 

 (1872), p. 1. 



Y 



