guised as to be mistaken for species of
the protected groups. Numbers of these imitations have been already
recorded by Mr. Bates and myself, but I will here refer to a few others.

In the recently published volumes on the Longicorn and Malacoderm
beetles of Central America[108] there are numbers of beautifully
coloured figures of the new species; and on looking over them we are
struck by the curious resemblance of some of the Longicorns to species
of the Malacoderm group. In some cases we discover perfect mimics, and
on turning to the descriptions we always find these pairs to come from
the same locality. Thus the Otheostethus melanurus, one of the
Prionidae, imitates the malacoderm, Lucidota discolor, in form, peculiar
coloration, and size, and both are found at Chontales in Nicaragua, the
species mimicked having, however, as is usual, a wider range. The
curious and very rare little longicorn, Tethlimmena aliena, quite unlike
its nearest allies in the same country, is an exact copy on a somewhat
smaller scale of a malacoderm, Lygistopterus amabilis, both found at
Chontales. The pretty longicorn, Callia albicornis, closely resembles
two species of malacoderms (Silis chalybeipennis and Colyphus
signaticollis), all being small beetles with red head and thorax and
bright blue elytra, and all three have been found at Panama. Many other
species of Callia also resemble other malacoderms; and the longicorn
genus Lycidola has been named from its resemblance to various species of
the Lycidae, one of the species here figured (Lycidola belti) being a
good mimic of Calopteron corrugatum and of several other allied species,
all being of about the same size and found at Chontales. In these cases,
and in most others, the longicorn beetles have lost the general form and
aspect of their allies to take on the appearance of a distinct tribe.
Some other groups of beetles, as the Elateridae and Eucnemidae, also
deceptively mimic malacoderms.

Wasps and bees are often closely imitated by insects of other orders.
Many longicorn beetles in the tropics exactly mimic wasps, bees, or
ants. In Borneo a large black wasp, whose wings have a broad white patch
near the apex (Mygnimia aviculus), is closely imitated by a heteromerous
beetle (Coloborhombus fasciatipennis), which, contrary to the general
habit of beetles, keeps its wings expanded in order to show the white
patch on their apex, the wing-coverts being reduced to small oval
scales, as show