480 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (Vol. XXXIII. 
beetles are seldom eaten. A wasp-like Cerambycid Neoclytus 
erythrocephalus, however, was relished by a song sparrow. It 
is maintained also that Staphylinid beetles mimic stinging 
Hymenoptera; nevertheless, they are relished by a good many 
birds. 
One of the most salient difficulties in the actual working of 
the theory of protective mimicry is met with when the insects 
eaten by the kingbird are examined. Here one finds that the 
yellow and black Hymenoptera, imitating Syrphidz, are eaten 
by the kingbird. Further, that Avistalis tenax, which mimics 
the honey-bee so perfectly, is also taken. These facts, though 
bad enough for the effectiveness of the mimicry, are not to be 
mentioned in the same category with still another. The king- 
bird is well known to feed upon honey-bees, but, strangest of 
all, the bird seeks only the drones. This would lead one to 
infer that if a bird was keen enough to tell the different castes 
of bees apart on the wing, it would not be likely, to any con- 
siderable extent, to be humbugged by mimetic resemblance. 
Mr. Benton, of the Department of Agriculture, tells me that 
domesticated fowls can tell the difference between drones and 
working honey-bees. Hens will stand by a hive and seize the 
drones as they come out, but do not touch the workers. In 
fact hens make a certain alarm cluck when they suddenly run 
across a worker. 
Miscellaneous Matter. 
Size often determines whether a given insect shall be eaten 
by a particular bird. The Papzlo turnus which my caged song 
sparrow killed after several minutes of hard work would un- 
doubtedly have escaped had it been outside, and a sphinx moth 
which my catbirds killed after a quarter of an hour’s struggle 
would certainly have gotten away. So with many beetles. 
Small species can be easily managed; but a catbird, for in- 
stance, with a Passalus cornutus is helpless, while a blue jay 
has the strength to break the insect to pieces and then eat it. 
I gave a Hydrophilus triangularis to my blue jay. His beak 
glanced off the insect’s back again and again, but finally he 
