"hard beetles" of their
own district. In South Brazil, Acanthotritus dorsalis is strikingly
like a Curculio of the hard genus Heiliplus, and Mr. Bates assures me
that he found Gymnocerus cratosomoides (a Longicorn) on the same tree
with a hard Cratosomus (a weevil), which it exactly mimics. Again, the
pretty Longicorn, Phacellocera batesii, mimics one of the hard
Anthribidae of the genus Ptychoderes, having long slender antennae. In the
Moluccas we find Cacia anthriboides, a small Longicorn which might be
easily mistaken for a very common species of Anthribidae found in the
same districts; and the very rare Capnolymma stygium closely imitates
the common Mecocerus gazella, which abounded where it was taken. Doliops
curculionoides and other allied Longicorns from the Philippine Islands
most curiously resemble, both in form and colouring, the brilliant
Pachyrhynchi,--Curculionidae, which are almost peculiar to that group of
islands. The remaining family of Coleoptera most frequently imitated is
the Cicindelidae. The rare and curious Longicorn, Collyrodes lacordairei,
has exactly the form and colouring of the genus Collyris, while an
undescribed species of Heteromera is exactly like a Therates, and was
taken running on the trunks of trees, as is the habit of that group.
There is one curious example of a Longicorn mimicking a Longicorn, like
the Papilios and Heliconidae which mimic their own allies. Agnia
fasciata, belonging to the sub-family Hypselominae, and Nemophas grayi,
belonging to the Lamiinae, 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