68 
NATURAL SELECTION 
ni 
of trees, as is the habit of that group. There is one curious 
example of a Longicorn mimicking a Longicorn, like the 
Papilios and Heliconidse which mimic their own allies. Agnia 
fasciata, belonging to the sub -family Hypselominse, and 
Nemophas grayi, belonging to the Lamiinse, were taken in 
Amboyna on the same fallen tree at the same time, and were 
supposed to be the same species till they were more carefully 
examined, and found to be structurally quite different. The 
colouring of these insects is very remarkable, being rich steel- 
blue black, crossed by broad hairy bands of orange buff, and 
out of the many thousands of known species of Longicorns 
they are probably the only two which are so coloured. The 
Nemophas grayi is the larger, stronger, and better armed 
insect, and belongs to a more widely spread and dominant 
group, very rich in species and individuals, and is therefore 
most probably the subject of mimicry by the other species. 
Beetles mimicking other Insects 
We will now adduce a few cases in which beetles imitate 
other insects, and insects of other orders imitate beetles. 
Charis melipona, a South American Longicorn of the 
family Necydalidae, has been so named from its resemblance 
to a small bee of the genus Melipona. It is one of the most 
remarkable cases of mimicry, since the beetle has the thorax 
and body densely hairy like the bee, and the legs are tufted 
in a manner most unusual in the order Coleoptera. Another 
Longicorn, Odontocera odyneroides, has the abdomen banded 
with yellow, and constricted at the base, and is altogether so 
exactly like a small common wasp of the genus Odynerus, 
that Mr. Bates informs us he was afraid to take it out 
of his net with his fingers for fear of being stung. Had 
Mr. Bates’ taste for insects been less omnivorous than it 
was, the beetle’s disguise might have saved it from his pin, as 
it had no doubt often done from the beak of hungry birds. 
A larger insect, Sphecomorpha chalybea, is exactly like one 
of the large metallic blue wasps, and like them has the 
abdomen connected with the thorax by a pedicel, rendering 
the deception most complete and striking. Many Eastern 
species of Longicorns of the genus Oberea, when on the wing, 
exactly resemble Tenthredinidse, and many of the small 
