Observations

scala> val s = Set("a", "b", "c")
s: scala.collection.immutable.Set[String] = Set(a, b, c)

scala> val t = s.map(_ + ":)")
t: scala.collection.immutable.Set[String] = Set(a:), b:), c:))

scala> val s = Set("a1", "a2", "a3")
s: scala.collection.immutable.Set[String] = Set(a1, a2, a3)

scala> val t = s.map(_ take 1)
t: scala.collection.immutable.Set[String] = Set(a)

scala> val u:Set[Any] = s map identity
u: Set[Any] = Set(a1, a2, a3)

scala> val v:Set[Any] = s
<console>:8: error: type mismatch;
 found   : scala.collection.immutable.Set[String]
 required: Set[Any]
Note: String <: Any, but trait Set is invariant in type A.
You may wish to investigate a wildcard type such as `_ <: Any`. (SLS 3.2.10)
       val v:Set[Any] = s
                        ^

  trait MyList[+T] { // declare a simple collection, e.g. list; it is covariant
    def head:T
    def tail:MyList[T]
    def ::[U>:T](x:U) = HeadAndTail(x, this)
    def size: Int
  }

  case object EmptyList extends MyList[Nothing] { // it's okay that it's a list of Nothing
    def head = error("This list is empty")
    def tail = error("this list is empty")
    def size = 0
  }

  case class HeadAndTail[T](head:T, tail: MyList[T]) extends MyList[T] {
    def size = 1 + tail.size
  }
// All the stuff above allows us to treat lists in a covariant way, like this:
      case class A(name: String) {override def toString = "A(" + name + ")"}
      case class B(override val name: String) extends A(name) {override def toString = "B(" + name + ")"}

      val listB = B("1") :: B("2") :: EmptyList
      listB.size must_== 2
      val listA = A("3") :: listB
      listA.size must_== 3
      val listC: MyList[Any] = listA
// See, MyList is covariant, so if B is a subtype of A, List[B] is a subtype of List[A]

And now... introduce a contravariant trait:
  
  trait Container[-T] {
    def contains(t:T): Boolean
  }

// and the natural transformation from MyList[+T] to Container[-T]:

  implicit def asContainer[T](list:MyList[T]): Container[T] = new Container[T] {
    def contains(t:T) = list.size > 0 && (list.head == t || asContainer(list.tail).contains(t))
  }

And it works. I can draw the appropriate commutative diagrams later, if it is not obvious.

      listA contains A("3") must beTrue
      listA contains B("1") must beTrue
//      listA contains "abracadabra" is a compilation error
      listC contains "abracadabra" must beFalse
      listC contains B("2") must beTrue