The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-05-07
INSECTS AS ACTORS.
CREATURES THAT CHANGE IN AP-
PEARANCE TO ElUOE ENEMIES.

NOUNS Ihat Try 10 LOOK - ~ Iney uas
Bee stings-Ants Copied by spidsrs-i
Caterpiiiar's Fierce Disguise.
All creation below man is In q state Of
war. and any creature that cannot take
care Of itself quickly falls an unpitied VIC
tim. Those that have teeth or claws OF
stings fight with them, and those thai
have none Of these are driven to seek safe
ty by aping the appearance and manner
of some better endowed relative. Butter
flies In general are most helpless orca-
lures. but some of them are possessed Of q
peculiar defense. They have a bad taste.
Birds that try to eat them find themselves
made Ill and naturally stop the feast
Now, the uniform of such butterfly Is q
valuable protection, and the sweet and
edible butterflies that live In the same
fields avail themselves OF 10. II the favored
fly is red, some butterflies that ought per-
haps to be yellow are found arrayed In q
shade of red which Is a pretty close match
OF the one copied. IL the poisonous one
has a marked spot on his wings, the imi-
tator will grow spot somewhat like IL,
and even when the first has SO distinctive
mark as swallow tail wing the poor
sticks out an imitation spike at the end of
his wing in the hope of deceiving the eye
of the ever watchful sparrow who is after
him.
1t is not every individual of a hunted
species that changes in this way. II they
all changed, the birds would soon discover
the trick, and it would become useless.
Sometimes when the hunted species is
large one it is not safe even for those that
do change all to copy the same poisonous
species So sometimes they are found
copying two or even three different spe-
cies. 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 1t is remarkable that as the male
flies are stronger and of swifter flight
than the female and better able to take
care of themselves they do not often
change, but by keeping sheir original COL
or serve to decoy the birds away from
their mates and TO keep up the defusion
that the imitation Is intended to create.
These DISCUSSES of the butterfly are won
derful 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
member of an entirely different family.
There is q moth that has assumed the dis
guise of the belligerent bee quite success
fully. To do this he has himself Matched
with the down on his wings so loose that
a buzz or two shake 1t all off and leave
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 il be had sting.
There are other flies that have initiated
bees more or less successfully, but none
that has gone so far 20 do so rs this one.
Mark Twain has called the ant a very
much overrated bird. But IL 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 indigesti.
BILE that he requires a specially constructed
animal TO eat him. Hence he lives and
increases in comparative peace and is the
envy of all his neighbors. He would doubt
less have many imitators II 10 were not
that he is so hard to copy. But he has
nevertheless found follower in a certain
spider. Now, there is great difference
between the natural appearance of spider
and an ant so great that the spider, even
If he is a long, thin, black spider, might
and an ant has six, and he has two bulbs
to 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 bulb in two. He
does not get such "A waist as an ant has,
but he makes an apparent division, which
is something. Then he walks on bis six
hind legs like an ant and waves his two
fore legs in the air like an ants nntenne,
and, it is to be supposed, fancies himself
indigestible
But perhaps the most wonderful imita-
ton is where an insect copies not the nat
ural appearance of another, but his appear
ance when at work. There is kind OF
ant in South America who makes it his
business TO strip the leaves from the trees
and carry them to his nest, and the sight
of one of these, struggling and often con-
cealed under his leaf, Is most common.
The ant, as stated before, has few enemies.
Now, there is found where this ant il com
mon a kind of fly that has grown upon
its back sort of fin of the general shape
of a leaf and of a bright green color, so
that as 1t crawls around it might we'll be
for one of these ants undor a
leaf Thus in its initiative asal it has
created a feature which Is no part Of the
ant it copies.
OF all these imitation warriors none Is
SO ambitious as one species OF caterpillar.
He is large, lizards like 10 eat him, and
he Is perfectly defenseless. When he 10
at rest, he Is like any other caterpillar,
and no one would notice certain dark
spots on bis shoulders But touch him,
and at once he draws his head back into
his body and presents 10 view a most ter
rifying dragon face. The spots on his
back now look like great saucer eyes, and
his dark head forms beak Of most bel.
ligerent aspect The whole effect is RI
diculously fierce and must be seen TO be
appreciated An innocent lizard to whom
this caterpillar was fed turned tail when
he saw the transformation and did not
stop until no was well hidden behind Q
twig.-New York Sun.