St. Landry democrat., 1886-01-30

ACCUS, U1lt ~ W tl1C "ooS&kos ScPSSA~J We
the south, and we find myriads of forms
that initiate the leaves and twigs. Green
lizards lie before our eyes and DEFY us;
the tree toads crouched on the leaves are
invisible; the bullfrogs in the sedges by
the bank of the pond are rendered in
conspicuous by their rich green coat;
then turn to the toad, that wanders
along the dusty roads and bare tracts OF
land, and we see it dust-colored or mot
tied, finding in this a sure protection.
.But to return to the lizards. There
are some curious cases among the
eeckos. Here is one, dead, that is called
the leaf-tailed gecko. You see the tail
bulges out soon after leaving the body,
and assumes a leaf or arrow shape;
hence the name of the animal. Now,
when the little creature is chased you
will see it dodge around a limb and hold
| up the curious leaf-like tail. That is all
you can see, and SO, naturally, would
think it a part of the tree itself. But
this lizard has more remarkable
| method of escape yet We will imagine
that you have tried to pluck the leaf.
The animal drops clunsily to the
| ground, and darts away among the
rocks, where it attracts the attention OF
| the hawks that are forever prowling
around; Immediately a chase ensues;
the bird gains, and is finally about to
pounce upon its prey when all at once
two lizards appear, one making Oh
while the other dances up and down
into the air and along the ground In
very mysterious way, so that the aston
ished bird stops and looks. In the mean
time the original lizard escapes; the
other, that is really the tail, soon be-
comes quiescent. You see the gecko
has the faculty of throwing off its tail
when hard pressed, and while the pur-
suer's attention is drawn to the squlrm..
ing member, the animal itself escapes. "
''But it loses its tail?' suggested the
reporter.
ssOnly for time. They can repro
duee this organ, and, curiously enough,
sometimes two tails are produced instead
of one. There is great variety of these
geckos, and they all have some protec-
ton. In another class of lizards, as the
anolis and chameleon, the other
changes, and they are enabled to adapt
themselves to any location in which
they may find themselves.
IT, continued the naturalist I'VE
look among insects, we find a remark
able display of mimics. Perhaps you
have noticed in the woods how often
butterflies dart up where you have not
noticed them They have been protect
ed by their stimulation to the leaves and
flowers, and the birds that prey upon
them are equally deceived. In the
southern part of this State wonderful
examples are seen in the walking-sticks
and the mantis. The former seem to be
actual twigs, endowed with life, the
body is straight, seeming twig, while
the legs are like branches from it, and
with its slow methodical movements it
would hardly be considered living
creature. Some of these in South Amer
lea attain length of eight inches. An
allied form in Central America. found
by Belt, the naturalist, so mimiced a
moss-covered twig that even a close
examination sometimes puzzled the OBJ
server. The leaf insects are
particularly interesting, as they
are almost exact in their resem-
blance to dead and living leaves; Sc
much so that they even deceive the for.
aging ants that rush over them, not
suspeeting that in the fallen leaf is the
willy mimic they would fain capture,
Among the plume moths are many o1
such delicacy that they resemble the
down of plants in their flight through
the air, and when alighting on flower
their animal nature would never be sus
pected.
- Aln hoe sf11I n
protective mimicry is that of the orange
tip butterfly. When open it is very
plainly seen, its wings being of white
black and orange, and flying about il
quite conspicuous, but as soon as i
alights upon favorite plant and close!
its wings, it becomes at once an exac
mimic of the white blotches of the under
surface.
"These animals continued th'
speaker, s'you see, generally mimic
plants or twigs, but there are others tina
are more remarkable from the fact tina
they mimic animals that from their pois
onous qualities are safe from attack
Thus it is well known that birds do no
especially care for hairy butterflies. Il
Central America Belt found a curious
beetle that was tidbit for the birds
clothed in a coat of long brown
hairs, closely resembling the thick hair.
caterpillars. In the same localitie
| | spiders have been found that looked ex
actly like ants, and were thus enabled tx
, creep upon their prey, the real ants
Wallace observed butterfly that, thougl
. an acceptable morsel to the birds, de
ceived them by mimicking the flight o
poisonous butterfly. II bird chase'
, it, it at once assumed the curious AM
laborious fight of its poisonous model
, and the bird noticing its evident mis-