General principles of zoology . FIG. 13.—Methane fsidii, a bad-tasting Heliconid^ copied by the Pierid, Leptalis orist, (After Wallace.) til STORY OF ZOOLOGY. 59 taste bad, and yet are not eaten, because in flight,in outline, and in marking of the wings they imitate theHcliconia so closely that even a systematist might beeasily deceived as to the systematic position (Fig. 13).In a similar way bees and wasps, feared on account oftheir sting, are imitated by other insects. In Borneo therelives a large black wasp, whose wings have a broad white. FIG. 14.—a, Mygnimia aviculus, a wasp imitated by a
General principles of zoology . FIG. 13.—Methane fsidii, a bad-tasting Heliconid^ copied by the Pierid, Leptalis orist, (After Wallace.) til STORY OF ZOOLOGY. 59 taste bad, and yet are not eaten, because in flight,in outline, and in marking of the wings they imitate theHcliconia so closely that even a systematist might beeasily deceived as to the systematic position (Fig. 13).In a similar way bees and wasps, feared on account oftheir sting, are imitated by other insects. In Borneo therelives a large black wasp, whose wings have a broad white. FIG. 14.—a, Mygnimia aviculus, a wasp imitated by a beetle ; f, Coloborhombus f<^sciat^•pennis. (After Wallace.) f nat. size. spot near the tip (Mygniinia avicnlus). Its imitator is aheteromerous beetle (Coloborhombus fasciatipennis), which,quite contrary to the habit of beetles, keeps its hinderwings extended, showing the white spot at their tips,while the wing-covers have become small oval scales(Fig. 14). Sexual Selection is understood to mean a special 6o GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY. phase of natural selection, which has chiefly been observedin the case of birds and hoofed animals. For the fulfil-ment of his sexual instincts the male seeks to drive hiscompetitors from the field, either in battle or by impress-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1896
