156 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Heteromerous genera comprise a greater variety o£ forms 

 than any other of the more important Coleopterous series, and 

 their chief peculiarity lies in the fact that they reproduce nearly 

 all the most characteristic forms of these series. It is difficult 

 to find any satisfactory explanation for this. 



Concerning these resemblances, Mr. Champion (Biologia Cen- 

 trali-Americana, Col. iv. Part 1, Introduction, p. v) writes as 

 follows : — "As examples of this assimilation, the following genera 

 are especially noteworthy, viz. : — Statira (Lagriid^e) to various 

 CarabidjE (Agra, Calleida, etc.); Cuphotes ( = Spheniscus) to 

 Cypherotylus (ErotylidjE) ; Doliema (Tenebrionidje) to various 

 Cucujid.e ; Uroplatopsis (Lagriidte) to various Hispid^e (Uro- 

 plata) and Lyojm:; Calopus ((Edemkrldje) to various Loxgi- 

 oornta ; Othnius to various Clerid.e ; Phrenapates (Tenebri- 

 onidje) to various Passalid^i ; Hapsida, JYaates, and Gonospa to 

 various Chrysomelidje ; Diplectrus ((Edemerio.e) to Chaulio- 

 gnathus (Telephorld.e) ; Sisenes ((Edemerldje) to various Caist- 

 tharidvE ; Nilio to vari o as CocciNELLiDyE and Endomychid^ : 

 Zt/pcetes (Texebrioxid.e) to Epierus (Histeridje) ; Paratenetus 

 (Tenebriokld.e) to various Chyptophagid.e (Cryptop>liagus and 

 Corticaria). Probably no better cases of so-called 'mimicry 7 or 

 homochroism can be found amongst the Coleoptera than exist 

 between certain species of Cuphotes and Cypherotylus and between 

 UropJatopjsis (U. rnimica) and Uroplata (U. dimidiata)." This list 

 might be almost indefinitely extended; most of us who have 

 worked at any groups have had to be careful to exclude Hete- 

 romera from batches of beetles received from superficial observers, 

 and even in the best Museums, mistakes are not unknown. 

 Mr. Champion has not called attention to the fact which I 

 have before noticed*, that the two groups of beetles in which 

 mimicking species are most often found are the Loxgicornia 

 and the Heteromera, but that, although in the former resem- 

 blances to other orders of insects (more especially Hymenoptera) 

 are often found, in the latter these are conspicuously absent, 

 almost the only exceptions being the genera Anthicus and Formi- 

 comus, which imitate ants. It is hard to explain this fact, which 

 will be again referred to under the Loxgicornta f. 



The larvae, as pointed out by Dr. Sharp and others, fall into 

 three groups : — 



1. Form regularly cylindrical; integument hard; legs distinct; 

 no pseudopod or tubercle present, except at the extreme apex, 

 where one or two short waity prominences are usually visible. 



* Presidential Addresses bafore the Entomological Society of London, 1902 ; 

 p. 26 ; 1903, p. 16. 



t [The Longicorns which mimic Hymenoptera are mostly quick-flying, 

 flower-frequenting species which consort much with the bees and wasps that 

 •visit flowers. Species having such habits are relatively very rare among the 

 Heteromera, so that we should naturally expect that mimicry of Hymenoptera 

 would be quite exceptional in the group. — Gr. A. K. M.] 



