Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-02-06
MIMICRY OF INSECTS.
ODD DISCUSSES SOME OF THEMADoPT
FOR SELF DEFENSE.
Butterfiies That Look Like Leaves, Moths
That Mimic wood and Stone and Insects
That Can Appear Like Dead Tvigs-The
Eakir In India.

I
| through the air with peculiar motion a
green leaf. 1t zigzagged from side to
side and finally landed in bush near at
hand. Wondering merely why such leaf
would fall from a spruce tree, would
! have passed on had not my dog, with more
prescience, stopped and nosed the leaf,
| telling me, after his fashion, to look. rms
| did and found this green object that had
come scurrying down was not leaf at
all. but q great green katydid, with gauze-
| like wings, protected by covers that were
so exact in their imitation of other leaves
in general that any one would have Deen
deceived.
The insect was q natural mimic, and
even its flight downward from the tree
was protective one, calculated to deceive
any feathered enemy that might have
been in the vicinity. This phase of animal
life, the feature of protective resemblances,
Is one well calculated to attract our atten-
ton and cause unceasing wonderment
Nature has wisely endowed certain de-
fenseless animals with a certain protect
I've resemblance-made them mlmics OF
.heir surroundings, SO that they may avoid
sheir enemies-and the extent to which
ghis is carried among certain animals
especially insects makes the study one OF
absorbing interest.
In all life there is certain adaptation
to its peculiar surroundings. Gally tinted
birds are not, as rule, found on white,
sandy wastes, but in forests where there Is
deep coloring and the contrast is not great.
Tho tawny lion, the giraffe, the ostrich,
are forms which assimilate their surround
ings. In California the horned toad Is al
most as invisible as the sand in which 1t
lives A little canyon toad mimics the
rocks upon which it rests in color, while
the frogs OF the east are hardly dlstin-
guishable from the green reeds among
which they hide.
This peculiar method of defense is partic-
ularly marked among insects. Some years
ago travelling fakir stopped at bunga-
low in India and offered for a small sum
to show tho guests of the sahib, who were
new in India, Il miracle. Told to go ahead,
he produced a small tree with leaves about
inches long, which he thrust into the
ground, then took from large box car.
ried by an attendants dozen butterflies OF
great beauty. After the guests had OK
amined them and assured themselves that
the insects were alive the fakir tossed
them ono by one into the air. Each allght-
ed OH the tree and became invisible. When
all had disappeared, the fakir asked the
sahib to look for them. The Englishman
examined the tree carefully, but failed to
find the dozen butterflies, each of which
was four inches across They had all heard
of tho Indian hypnotism, and thought
that this possibly was an instance in hand,
but the laughing fakir caught up the tree,
and, giving it a shake, the insects floated
in tho air for moment and then gath
cred about the tree, again to mysteriously
disappear.
Tho fakir then pointed ont the illusion.
The butterflies were not foot from their
eyes and so mimicked the leaves when
their wings We're folded that the deception
was perfect, both in color and shape.
There were even the delicate mold spots,
tho central or midrib of the leaf and the
delicate lateral branches from it, while the
stem of the leaf was closely initiated by
the lower portion of the wings which
were pressed against the stem. This MINI
ic known to science as kallina if followed
by bird simply alights on bush or tree
and becomes invisible, and the fakir had
simply taken advantage of the natural
protection of the butterfly.
The same protection is seen in many OF
our common butterflies that mimic flowers
or leaves. hCiIdThaDlO TescltiDidiCc, die
noticed among the moths, some mimick
ing hits of wood or stone, so that when
they alight they become at once invisible
and thus escape from every possible pur-
suer.
Some interesting instances of mimicry
are found in India. A naturalist noted q
butterfly here that was not only remark
ablo mimic but when followed it initial
oJ inn ierlt IF a
terfly that was obnoxious to the birds. In
almost every group of insects we find this
protective resemblance, and those among
the walking sticks and walking leaves are
the most wonderful. In the latter VIC have
an ex:.nplp of an insect so exactly resem-
bling IL green leaf that it would bear close
examination without discovery. The in
sect looks as though it might have been
made up from several pieces of leaves. Ii
is of vivid green, with delicate leaves,
exactly as one finds in a leaf.
While the phyllium resembles n leaf,
the phasnid;e is a mimic of a twi2 or
branch. The long straight body is per
feet stick, the legs resembling twigs
branching from it, and when walking
they move in so deliberate manner that
even then the illusion is not destroyed
South American walking stick is a verita-
BILE giant, almost foot in length. These
are green, resembling young shoots, and
are found among green verdure. But one
observed by Bolt, the English naturalist,
was a perfect mimic of a dead twig and
had upon its sides and legs curious excres-
cences that mimicked fungous growths,
SO that the bird who had seen it moving
would consider it nothing but dried twig.
The curious insects known as the mantis
are remarkable for their powers Of MIN
icry. Their movements are slow, their
bodies ard legs resemble twigs, and they
are by this disguise enabled to creep upon
their prey. One species has been known
to seize and eat small birds, who, think
ing it bit of the branch, so fall into its
clutches. Perhaps the most remarkable
mimic among these insects is pink man.
tbs of India that is almost exact in its re-
semblanco to an orchid. The object here is
evidently to capture insects that alight on
it by mistake. -Washington Star.
Inconvenience Of Royalty.
The announcement that the queen goes