COLOR AND PATTERN IN ANIMALS 



413 



for long times in this trying attitude. They also lack the 

 middle proplegs of the body, common to other lepidopterous 

 larvae, the presence of which would tend to destroy the illusion 

 so successfully carried out by them. The common walking 

 stick (Diapheromera) (Fig. 254), with its wingless, greatly 

 elongate, dull-colored body, is an excellent example of special 

 protective resemblance. It is quite indistinguishable, when at 

 rest, from the twigs to which 

 it is clinging. Another member 

 of the family of insects to which 

 the walking stick belongs is the 

 famous green-leaf insect (Phyl- 

 lium) (Fig. 256). It is found 

 in South America and is of 

 a bright green color, with broad 

 leaflike wings and body with 

 markings which imitate the leaf 

 veins, and small irregular yel- 

 lowish spots which mimic decay- 

 ing or stained or fungus-covered 

 spots in the leaf. 



There are many butterflies 

 that resemble dead leaves. All 

 our common meadow browns 

 (Graptd) , brown and reddish 

 butterflies with ragged - edged 

 wings, that appear in the autumn 

 and flutter aimlessly about ex- 

 actly like the falling leaves, 



show this resemblance. But most remarkable of all is a large 

 butterfly (Kallima) (Fig. 257) of the East Indian region. The 

 upper sides of the wings are dark, with purplish and orange 

 markings, not at all resembling a dead leaf. But the butter- 

 flies when at rest hold their wings together over the back, 

 so that only the under sides of the wings are exposed. The 

 under sides of Kallima' s wings are exactly the color of a dead 

 and dried leaf, and the wings are so held that all combine to 

 mimic with extraordinary fidelity a dead leaf still attached to 

 the twig by a short pedicle or leaf-stalk imitated by a short tail 

 on the hind wings, and showing midrib, oblique veins, and, 

 most remarkable of all, two apparent holes, like those made 



FIG. 256. The green-leaf insect, 

 Phyllium. 



