The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-09
MIMICRY OF INSECTS.
ODD DISCUSSES SOME OF THEMApoPT
FOR SELF DEFENSE.
butterflies That Look Like Leaves, Moths
That Mimic Wood and Stone and Insects
That Can Appear Like Dead Twigs-Ths
Fakir In India


In wandering through one of the pictur.
esque canyons of the Sierra Madre noun.
tains one day / noticed coming down
through the air with peculiar motion a
green leaf It zigzagged from side "a
side and finally landed in a bush near al
hand. Wondering merely why such a leaf
would fall from spruce tree, would
have passed on bad not my dog, with more
prescience, stopped and nosed the leaf,
telling me- after his fashion, to look. This
i did and found this green object that had
come scurrying down was not leaf at
all, but 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 been
deceived.
The insect was natural mimic, and
even its flight downward from the tree
was a 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 mimics of
their surroundings, so that they may avoid
their enemies-and the extent TO which
this is carried among certain animals
especially insects makes the study one of
absorbing interest
In all life there is a certain adaptation
TO its peculiar surroundings. Gaily tinted
birds are not, as a rule, found on white,
sandy wastes, but in forests where there is
deep coloring and the contrast is not great.
The 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 it
lives. A little canyon toad mimics the
rocks upon which it rests in color while
the frogs of the east 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 a travelling fakir stopped at bunga-
low In India and offered for a small sum
to show the guests of the sahib, who were
new in India, a miracle. Told to go ahead,
he produced a small tree with leaves about
8 inches long, which he thrust into the
ground, then took from a large box car
ried by an attendant dozen butterflies of
great beauty. After the guests had ex-
amined them and assured themselves that
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 the Indian hypnotism, and thought !
that this possibly was an instance in hand, |
but the laughing fakir caught up the tree, |
and, giving it shake, the insects floated |
in the air for moment and then gath |
cred about the tree, again to mysteriously |
disappear.
The fakir then pointed ont the illusion. |
The butterflies were not a foot from their |
eyes and so mimicked the leaves when |
their wings were folded that the deception |
was perfect, both in color and shape. |
There were even the delicate mold spots, !
the 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 MIN
ic, known to science as kallina, If followed |
by bird simply alights on a 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. Remarkable resemblances are
noticed among the 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 minlicry
are found In India A naturalist noted
butterfly here that was not only remark
able mimic, but when followed it initial
ed the peculiar flight Of a poisonous but
terfy 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 we have
m example Of an insect so exactly resem-
bling a 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. 1t
Is Of vivid green, with delicate leaves,
exactly as one finds IN a leaf.
While the phyllium resembles a leaf
the phasnide is a mimic of a twig or
branch. The long straight body is per-
feet stick, the legs resembling twigs
from it, and when walking
they move in so deliberate a manner that
even then the illusion is not destroyed. A
South American walking stick is a verta-
Die 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,
vas perfect mimic of dead twig and
had upon its sides and legs curious excres-
,ences that mimicked fungous growths,
70 that the bird who had seen it moving
would consider it nothing but a dried twig.
The curious insects known as the mantis
ire remarkable for their powers of MIN
cry. Their movements are slow, their
bodies and legs resemble twigs, and they
ire by this disguise enabled to creep upon
heir prey. One species has been known
20 seize and eat small birds, who, think
ng 1t bit of the branch, so fall into its
clutches Perhaps the most remarkable
mimic among these insects is pink man
lis Of India that is almost exact in Its re-
to an orchid. The object here is
to capture insects that alight on
{ by mistake. Washington Star.
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