198 



IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1S67. 



side, they would soon be detected. They are ac- 

 cordingly found stretched out motionless in the 

 most unsymmetrical manner possible — one leg out 

 on one side, and two on the other, for example, the 

 remaining legs fitting so closely to the body that they 

 appear to form one piece with it. They lay generally 

 across leaves and twigs, as if they had accidentally 

 fallen there from some dry branch overhead ; and so 

 impossible is it to detect them by the eye that I 

 used to make it a practice, when walking along in 

 the forests, to touch every suspicious bit of dead 

 stick I saw loose on the foliage, as the only means of 

 finding out whether they were real sticks or Stick- 

 insects. Sometimes they are exactly the colour of 

 lichen-covered branches, and are covered with little 

 i'oliaceous expansions. One that inhabits the 

 swampy forests of Borneo has these of a beautiful 

 olive-green colour, so as exactly to resemble a 

 creeping moss or jungermannia ; and the Dyak who 

 brought it me assured me it was very curious, for 

 he had never before seen an insect grown all over 

 with moss while alive ! I was quite as much 

 astonished as he was, for I could hardly believe my 

 eyes, and it was only after close and repeated ex- 

 amination that I could convince myself it was not a 

 real plant that covered the animal. This insect 

 loses all its beauty when dried, and it has been 

 very poorly figured by the Dutch naturalists, and 

 very inappropriately named Ceroxylus laceratus, 

 from its torn and shaggy appearance in the pre- 

 served specimens. 



In the deserts of Egypt are some curious Man- 

 tidse which are so exactly the colour of the soil they 

 live upon that the closest inspection can scarcely 

 detect them. It is even stated that where the soil 

 changes from brown to white or yellow in a few 

 yards' distance, the insects change also, and always 

 correspond in colour to their habitation. The 

 caterpillar of a European moth, Bryophila algae, is 

 said to change in a similar manner, being yellow 

 when found on the yellow Lichen juniperinus, but 

 grey when on the grey Lichen saxatilis. In this 

 case, however, the food may probably produce the 

 change of colour, as it is known to do in some other 

 larvae. Some cases more to the point have been 

 observed by our artist, Mr. T. W. Wood, lie 

 states that the chrysalis of the common Tortoise- 

 shell butterfly is of a very different colour accord- 

 ing to its position. When attached to a nettle, it is 

 of a golden colour ; when on a wall or fence, mottled 

 grey ; and when on a tarred paling, nearly black. 

 Once he placed some larvae of the Swallow-tailed 

 butterfly in chip boxes, where they changed into 

 chrysalids ; but, strange to say, instead, of being- 

 green or dusky, as they usually are, they were of 

 exactly the same colour as the inside of the box, 

 without any marking whatever. Some of them pro- 

 duced very fine butterflies, which shows that they 

 were healthy. 



These curious facts prove that we have yet 

 much to learn as to the causes which determine 

 the colours of animals, and it is to be wished 

 that a few of our young naturalists would ex- 

 periment on some of our commonest insects, 

 rearing them from the egg exposed to the influence 

 of differently coloured objects and carefully register- 

 ing the result. In this article I have only been 

 able to call attention to some curious facts in the 

 colouring of insects, and more especially to the 

 disguises which serve to protect them from their 

 enemies, or enable them more easily to entrap their 

 prey. Such of my readers as may wish to know 

 more of this subject, and may desire to learn how 

 these strange modifications of form and colour have 

 probably arisen, ai-e referred to an article in the 

 Westminster Review for July last, on " Mimicry, and 

 other Protective Resemblances among Animals," in 

 which the most recent views of Mr. Darwin's 

 disciples are fully explained. 



PRIMEVAL BRITAIN. 



IN the April number of Science-Gossip there 

 appeared a very interesting extract from Camp- 

 bell's "Erost and Eire," treating of a legend re- 

 corded in the Gaelic poems of Ossian, and in the 

 folk-lore of the Irish, Welsh, and Highlanders. 

 This story asserts that in Ancient Britain, in 

 the days of Eionn, and in the "Eeinne" (which 

 may be taken to mean, I suppose, the dynasty 

 which he founded or the domain over which he and 

 his posterity ruled), there lived men and animals of 

 gigantic stature. This curious tradition, like most 

 others, is probably founded on a truth which, when 

 discovered, might greatly increase our knowledge of 

 the eax - ly history of our race and land. 



While Mr. Campbell quite sees reason, from the 

 remains of large fossil animals which have been dis- 

 covered in this country, to believe the latter part of 

 the legend, he finds the former part, viz., the sup- 

 position of a gigantic race of men, incredible. Now 

 it has; occurred to me that the very name of the 

 monarch under whom this state of things prevailed 

 is the key to the enigma. Surely this Eionn is no 

 other than the personage to whom almost all the 

 old Erse legends relate, viz., Earsaidh, Einiusa- 

 Earsa, or Phenius the Sage— the personification, in 

 fact, of the rule of the Tyrian (Phenician) traders, 

 whose attainments must have appeared so won- 

 derful and gigantic (to use a material comparison) 

 to the native Irish. It is well known that uncivilized 

 nations regard those" who have attained more know- 

 ledge than themselves as giants in intellect ; and it 

 is perfectly comprehensible how this reverence for 

 superior intellectual powershould becomechanged in 

 time into an actual belief in their superior stature. 

 In the sense of "learned" or "gifted" man, the 

 word " giant " is frequently used in Scripture. If 



