PROTECTIVE DEVICES 47 



CHAPTER III 



PROTECTIVE DEVICES 



". ! . . . Then marked he, too, 

 How lizard fed on ant, and snake on him, 

 And kite 011 both ; and how the fish-hawk robbed 

 The fish-tiger of that which it had seized ; 

 The shrike chasing the bulbul, which did hunt 

 The jeweled butterflies ; till everywhere 

 Each slew a slayer and in turn was slain, 

 Life living upon death. So the fair show 

 Veiled on vast, savage, grim conspiracy 

 Of mutual murder, from the worm to man, 

 Who himself kills his fellow."- .! 



IN this life, among 1 us ;m<l about us, animals 

 and plants as well as men bring to their aid every 

 means which will in anv wav secure advantages to 



i/ / O 



themselves and their posteritv. Man lias inanv cuiminc; 



1 *j tj iT 



devices; ferocious wild animals have strength and 

 prowess; yet both of these show due respect for the 

 defensive weapons of the hee and the wasp. Bees have 

 stings, beetles have guns. More successful in escaping 

 the many predatory enemies of insects, however, are 

 those that hy imitation or simulation succeed in appear 

 ing not what they are but what they seem. 



Means of protection are evident in every stage of 

 insect life: the egg, the larva, the pupa and the adult 

 frequently possess marked tendencies for shielding 

 themselves from harm by reason of some peculiar trait 

 or characteristic. 



The Egg's Defense.-- in the case of the egg, too fre- 

 quently members of its own generation are its wors\ 



