374 Mr. H. Donisthorpe on 



adventitious colouring. It is often found with its rough 

 dorsal surface coated with chalk and dirt. 



Grypidms equiseti, F. 



Of this beetle Mr. Morley writes to me : " A spider 

 occurs in the Bramford Marshes on the reeds, and when it 

 is curled up in the net, frightened, the closeness of its 

 superficial resemblance to Grypidms equiseti (which occurs 

 in the same pond sparingly) is very striking." I am 

 inclined to think the beetle presents a rather close re- 

 semblance to " bird's droppings," and that both the spider 

 and the beetle are similarly protectively coloured, thus 

 accounting for their resemblance to each other. (Syn- 

 cryptic resemblance.) 



domes scropliularise, L. 



This beetle is also rather like a bit of "bird's dropping." 

 Mr. Holland tells me that the cluster of its slimy-looking 

 larvae on the top of the fig-wort is an exact imitation of 

 the bunch of slimy-looking unopened flower-heads, while 

 the pupa is just as good an imitation of its bunch of seeds. 



Gionus blattariie, F. 



This little species is a still better imitation of bird's 

 excreta. 



Orobitis cyaneus, L. 



This small beetle when " feigning death " with the legs 

 and rostrum packed up is in shape and appearance exactly 

 like a small blue seed. 



Gryptorrhynclms lapathi, L. 



This beetle is another splendid imitation of the drop- 

 pings of birds. I remember finding it in plenty on some 

 willows at Barrow-on-Soar. Beneath the willows was a 

 bed of nettles upon which many of the beetles had fallen, 

 and their appearance suggested that a number of birds 

 had been roosting in the trees above. 



A calles. 



Mr. Bennett suggests that all the species of this genus 

 are extremely like the dead buds which one beats with 

 them from old hedges. 



