Cases of Protective Resemblance, Mimicry, etc. oVd 



Lebia cyanocephala, L., and L. chlorocephala, Hoff. 



These beetles have a very " Phytophaga "-like appear- 

 ance. They occur at the roots of broom, juniper, etc., and 

 also on the blossom-. My friend Mr. Bouskell took a 

 series of L. cyanocephala in the New Forest by beating 

 broom in flower. Mr. Gab an tells me that the Central 

 American Lebiinze have a strongly-marked resemblance 

 to Phytophaga and Coccinellidnz, and that a closely-allied 

 group has been called Galemcidiinse, from its resemblance 

 to the GalerucidtB. The whole group of Phytophaga are 

 extensively mimicked in all countries, and many of them 

 are known to be distasteful. 



Dcmetrias unipunctatus, Germ. 



This beetle is coloured so as to be very well concealed 



in the sand in which it lives. 

 ■ 



Drypta dentata, Rossi. 



This species is of a brilliant metallic blue colour and 

 might be easily mistaken for one of the Phytop>hagct. 



Brachinus crepitans, L. 



B. crepitans is protected by its "guns." Mr. Holland 

 says, " It may also be protected by being gregarious and 

 looking something like the big wood-ant. My brother 

 once picked up a large stone in a wood-clearing on the 

 chalk hills, and hurriedly called Mr. Hamm and me to 

 come and look — there were between one and two hundred 

 crepitans under that one stone, looking like a colony of 

 ants. A number like this is very unusual, but it is a 

 common thing to find a dozen or so under a stone in 

 the same place." It is noteworthy that both the ant 

 and the beetle defend themselves by ejecting acid. 



DYTISCID/E. 



As my friend Mr. W. E. Sharp pointed out to me, 

 the prevailing sub-aquatic colours vary through a very 

 short scale from dull green, olive-green, yellow-green, to 

 yellow-brown and brown. These are the colours of nearly 

 all denizens of water, particularly so in the water-beetles. 

 This is not surprising, as they require perhaps more 



