FASCICULI MALATEUSES 
i8i 
but at the same time to somewhat veil the brilliant irridescent blue of 
the abdomen. It never runs straight for any distance, being probably 
employed in hunting other insects, perhaps “ ant lions,” in the sand, but 
frequently stops for a moment, and then resumes motion in another 
direction. The beetle had eKactly the same gait and movements, and its 
resemblance to the wasp was due to this rather than to any very detailed 
similarity of form or colour, though in these respects, too, there is a general 
likeness even in the set specimens. In the present instance, it would seem 
rather that the beetle mimicked the wasp than the wasp the beetle, the wasp 
being by far the commoner of the two insects, and also the more noxious. 
The bearing of Mr. Ridley’s observation on this view is not clear, but, in 
any case, it is improbable that the resemblance between the Hymenopteron and 
the beetle was so close as in the instance observed by myself, for the movements 
of the ant referred to by Mr. Ridley bear a general likeness to those of the 
digging wasps, but are less rapid and abrupt, at any rate when the insects are 
undisturbed. The colour of the ant, moreover, is dark brown, instead of being 
metallic blue. Mr. Shelford* points out that in Borneo Tricondyla cyanea var. 
wallacei^ a form resembling T. aptera in appearance, is mimicked in a very 
detailed manner by the Orthopteron Condylodera tricondyloides^ which also 
mimics, in different stages of its growth, T. gihha and C. sarawakensis. It is very 
puzzling to find allied forms, of which some appear to act as models and others 
as mimics, but this would rather bear out Mr. Robinson’s suggestion {ypostea^ 
under Coilyris sarawakensis) that in the case of these beetles and the forms 
which resemble them superficially we are dealing not with Batesian mimicry 
at all, but with a Milllerian association, some of the members of which may 
still be unknown. In considering a question of the kind it must be remem- 
bered that a large proportion of the insects reckoned scarce in collections are 
only “ rare ” because the particular habitat or locality in which they are abun- 
dant has not yet been discovered.’ N. A. 
8. Tricondyla wallacei (Thoms.) 
Bukit Besar, Nawngchik. 2,500 feet. 3rd September, 1901. 
‘ Resting on end of twig in jungle ; early morning.’ 
A single specimen is referred somewhat doubtfully to the above species. 
9. Coilyris apicalis, Chaud. 
Bukit Besar, Nawngchik. 2,500 feet. August, September, 1901. 
. Proc . Zool . Soc . 1902 (2), pp. 233-234. 
