Alfred
Russel Wallace : Alfred Wallace : A. R. Wallace :
Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)
What Are the Uses of Bright Colors
in Hymenoptera? (S421c: 1890)
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: An article by T. D. A. Cockerell, as titled above, appeared in the
May 1890 issue of Entomological News (Philadelphia). Included in the article, on page 66, is a
brief excerpt from a letter Wallace sent to Cockerell regarding an aspect of the subject. To link
directly to this page, connect with: http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S421C.htm
. . . I at once called to mind the numerous dull-colored species of Andrena, Halictus, etc., and
the brilliantly-colored, non-aculeate Chrysididæ and Chalcididæ, so that it seemed to me that in
this case, at any rate, "warning coloration" was not self-evident, so I submitted the point to Dr.
Wallace, himself, who replied:
"Though the Andrenidæ are not usually gayly colored, yet they are not inconspicuous. The
Chrysididæ are, I should think, colored so brilliantly partly, perhaps, to simulate stinging species,
and partly to prevent their being taken for fruits or seeds when rolled up. They are very hard, and
like many hard beetles are colored as a warning of inedibility." (A. R. Wallace in litt. Feb. 10,
1890)
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