Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-09
MIMICRY OF INSECTS.
ODD DISCUSSES SOME OF THEM ADOPT
 FOR SELF DEFENSE.

That Mimic Wood and Stone and Insects
 That Gan Appear Like Dead Twigs-The
 Fakir In India.
 In wandering through one of the pictur- esque canyons of tho Sierra Madre noun tains ono day noticed coming down through the mir with peculiar motion a green leaf It zigzaggcd from side to side and finally landed in a bush near at hand. Wondering merely why such a leaf would fall from spruce tree, l would have passed on had not my dog, with moro prescienco, stopped and nosed tho leaf, telling me, after his fashion. 10 look. This l did and found this green object that had come scurrying down wGs not leaf at all, but great green katydid, with gauge like wings, protected by covers that were so exact in thcir imitation of other leaves in general that any one would have been deceived.
 Tho insect was Q natural mimic, and even its flight downward from the treo was Q protective ono, calc:,ated to deceive any fcathercd enemy taa. might have been in tho vicinity. This phase of animal life, the feature of protective reseinblances, is one well calculated tc attract our atten- tion and cause unccasiua wonderment Nature has wisely endowed certain de- fenseless animals with certain protect i've resemblance-ma.!e them E.imicS of their surroundings, so that they may avoid their enemics-and tho extent to which this is carried among certain animals, especially insects, makes the study one of absorbing interest.
 In all life there is certain adaptation to It's peculiar surroundings. Gaily tinted birds are not, as rule, found on white; sandy wastes, but in forests where thcre is deep coloring and the contrast is not great The tawny lion, the giraffe, the ostrich, are forms which assimilato 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 cast are hardly distin- 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 the guests of tho sahib, who were new in India, a miracle. Told to go ahead, he produced small tree with leaves about 3 inches long, which he thrust into the ground, then took from large box car ried by an attendant dozen butterflies of great beauty. After the guests had ex- amined them and assured themselves that the insects were alive, the fakir tossed them one by one into the air Each alight- ed on 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 m instance in hand, but the laughing fakir caught up the tree and, giving 1t shake, the insects floated in the air for a 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 Inimicked tho leaves when their wings were folded that the deception was perfect, both in color and shape There wcrc even tho delicate mold spots the central or midrib of the leaf and the delicate lateral branches from it, while the
  tho lower portion of the wings, which wore pressed against tho stem. This mim 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 laavas RpnnrEnhla rpSnmblnprpS ara noticed among tho moths, some mimick ing bits 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 arc found in India A naturalist noted a butterfly here that was not only remark able mimic, but when followed it imitat- cd the peculiar flight of a poisonous but 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 arc the most wonderful. In the latter we have an example of an insect so exactly resem- bling 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. It is of a vivid green, with delicate leaves, exactly as ono finds in leaf
 While the phyllium resembles leaf, the phasnid@ is mimic of twig 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. A South American walking stick is a verita ble giant, almost foot in length. These are green, resembling young shoots, and arc found among green verdure. But one observed by Bolt, the English naturalist, was perfect mimic of dead twig and