The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-08

they all changed, the birds would soon | discover the trick, and it would become useless. Sometimes when the hunted | species is q large one. 1t is not saf2,
 even for those that do change, all to copy the same poisonous species. In
 this case the eggs that are laid by a
 female of any of the colors will hatch out into all the several kinds of flies,
 It is remarkable that as the male flies
 are stronger and of swifter flight than | the females, and better able to take | care of themselves, they do not often
 change, but by keeping their original
 color serve to decoy the birds away
 from their mates, and to keep up the delusion that the imitation is intended to create.
 These disguises of the butterfly are wonderful enough, but they are all in
 the family, so to speak, and are far surpassed by other insects, who, not
 finding any safe individual to copy
 among their own near relatives, take
 bold step and initiate a member of an
 entirely different family. There Is
 moth that has assumed the disguise of
 the belligerent bee quite successfully.
 To do this he has himself matched with
 the down on his wings so loose that a
 buzz or two shakes it all off, and leaves
 his wings transparent and gauzy like
 the bees. Then he crawls around with
 an imitation of a bees peculiar glide,
 and does his best to look as if he had
 a sting. There are other flies that have
 initiated bees more or less successfully
 but none that have gone so far to do so
 as this one.
 Mark Twain has called the ant a very much overrated bird. But if man has highly estimated this bird" he has but followed in the footsteps of nature. For the ant is one of natures favorites. She has made him so dry and hard and indigestible that he requires specially constructed animal to eat him. Hence he lives and increases in comparative peace, and is the envy of all his neigh bors. He would doubtless have many imitators if 1t were not that he is so hard to copy. But he has nevertheless found a follower in certain spider Now, there is a great deal of difference between the natural appearance of a spider and an ant; so great that the spi- | der even if he is a long, thin. black spider, might we'll be discouraged; for | he has eight legs and ant six, and he has two bulbs on his body and an ant | three. Yet he is nothing daunted. By | some system of tight lacing or other, he | first manages to divide his abdominal l bulo in two. He does not get such a | waist as an ant has, but he makes an | apparent division, which is something; 1 then he walks around onl his six hind | legs like an ant, and waves his two | fore legs in the air, like an ants an tennae, and, 1t is to be supposed, fam cies himself indigestible.
 But perhaps the most wonderful imi- Lation Is where an insect copies, not the natural appearance of another, but his appearance when at work There is a kind of ant in South America who makes it his business to strip the leaves rom the trees and carry them to his nest; and the sight of one of these, struggling and often concealed under lis leaf is almost common. The ant IS stated before, has few enemies. Now, here is found where this ant is com non, a kind of fly, that has grown upon ts back sort of fin, of the genera! hape of a leaf and of a bright green 1 olor, So that as it crawls around it night we'll be mistaken for one of these Lnts under a leaf. Thus, in it's imita- i've zeal 1t has created feature which s no part of the ant it copies.
 Of all these imitation warriors none $ so ambitious as one species of cater 'illar. He Is large, lizards like to eat nm, and he is perfectly defenseless. When he is at rest he is like any other aterpillar, and no one would notice ertain dark spots on his shoulders. sut touch him and at once he draws his cad back into his body, and presents Q view most terrifying dragon face he spots on his back now look like reat saucer eyes, and his dark head i 1rms beak of most belligerent as ect. The whole effect is ridiculously ] cree, and must be seen to be appre- iated An innocent lizard to whom 1is caterpillar was fed turned tail hen he saw the Transformation and l