The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-08-27
ANIMAL IMPOSTORS.
CREATURES WHOSE EVERY APPEAR
ANCE is AN AFFRoNT } TRUTH.

| CheA OhES WHOSE EVERY APPEAR
ANcE is AN AFFRoNT > TRUTH. I
| Form and Even Coloring Are Chang
ed In the Attempt to Initiate Their
| nment-Perfectf0n of Insect
and Spider Disguises.
The Shakespearean conception Of the
human world as stage may be ex-
panded to include the animal world
as well. Like ourselves, animals enter
| on the struggle for existence with q
| modicum of equipment in figure, CON-
plexion, voice and demeanor and with
the assignment of a definite role to
play in the melodrama of life. Hence
we are not surprised to find that many
of our four, six and eight footed COM
petitors have, figuratively speaking, at
tanned to some proficiency in the art of
imposition while endeavoring to gain
a foothold in the world. e., the op-
portunity of feeding, mating and leav-
ing offspring to repeat the same per-
fOrmance continuously.
| 1t must have been some such reflec-
ton as this which led Henry Drum
mond to remark that Carlyle In his
| blackest visions of 'shams and hum
| bugs among humankind never saw
anything so finished in hypocrisy as
the naturalist now finds in every trop-
ical forest. There are to be seen crea-
lures, not singly, but in tens of thou
sands, whose every appearance, down
to the minutest spot and wrinkle, is an
affront to truth, whose every attitude
is pose for purpose and whose life
Is sustained lie. Before these mas
terpieces Of deception the most in
genious of human impositions are vul-
gar and transparent. Fraud is not
only the great rule of life in a tropical
forest, but the one condition of it"
nrummond's statements are perhaps
little misleading without some quail
lfication, for animals are not impostors
in the ordinary sense of the term, since
they are, of course, perfectly unaware
of appearing under deceptive dis
guise. Moreover, what is true Of ami
NAL life in the tropics is also in great
measure true Of animal life in other re-
gions of the globe.
In the development Of deceptive dis
guises-disguises which affect the form.
attitude and color, but largely the color,
OF Administrative appears to have
proceeded along two different paths,
one of which is direct and relatively
easy, the other circuitous and much
more difficult. The easy path, which
may be considered first, is that of pro-
tective resemblance pure and simple
|. e., an approach in the animals form,
color and attitude to some object In the
surroundings. Such an approximation
can hardly fail to be of the greatest ad-
vantage, since the animal thereby
merges so completely with its environ
ment as to pass unobserved by its enc
mics or by it's prey. This alternative
has led in two directions-to a defen-
sive and an aggressive form Of resem-
blance.
Every sportsman has been deceived
by the close resemblance of birds and
other animals to the soil and vegeta-
ton. 1t would be easy, moreover, to
show that many of the lower amir lis
exhibit similar adaptations. 1t is also
well known that some of these crea-
lures, like the chameleons, many tree
frogs, cuttlefishes and shrimps, can
actually change their colors to make
them harmonic with the exact tints of
the vegetation or soil on which they are
living. But no animal can compare with
the insects and spiders in the detailed
!, perfection of their protective disguises
or in the frequency Of adopting this
method of eluding enemies or Of
. stealthily approaching prey. This is
. true Notwithstanding the fact that ac-
tive color changes like those Of the
chameleon are scarcely known to occur
among insects.
:. Many of the most striking examples
|, of protective resemblance among in
sects are the result of the very inti-
, mate association of these animals with
the fora of our planet. Especially is
this true of insects which live expos
ed on the vegetation. There is really
no portion of the plant excepting its
roots and fruits which is not copied by
some insect, often with the most as
tonishing faithfulness to details. Hosts
of moths copy the rough ichen mot
tied bark of trees, the walking sticks
and looping caterpillars copy the twigs.
l
katydids and the marvellous leaf in
sects phyllium) of the East Indies.
while the dead leaves are portrayed by
+ many moths and butterflies, a form Of
resemblance eliminating in the famous
! kallima butterflies of southern Asia.
Striking reSemblances to thorns and
knots are to be found among spiders
and leaf hoppers (membracid@), while
even the flowers may be copied, as in
the case of the pink orchidlike mantis
(hymenopus) of India and several 9TH
er species.
The roots of plants are not copied be-
cause they are not exposed to view
and an attempt to resemble the expos
ed seed or fruit would be only an fnvi-
tatiOn to birds to destroy any species
that might be so bold as to vary in this
observation-disclosures William Morton
= Wheeler in Century.
They All Charge.
He kissed devoutly the hand that
passed him the autograph album and
/ wrote therein: 81 would write my
l name upon this page. Would that I
: could inscribe it upon the purer scroll
of your heart in that invisible ink
which shall only appear as the thing
: upon which it is written is warmed
: at the fires of a love which takes no
note of time'