608 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Various lizards abash their enemies by expansion, protrusion, or 

 erection of appendages. The iguana has a bag beneath the neck which 

 it puffs up. The frilled lizard of Australia has a sort of Elizabethan 

 collar about its neck which it can suddenly expand, to astonish and put 

 to flight the approaching enemy. And the basilisk of South America 

 has fin-like appendages upon its back and tail which it can erect if 

 annoyed. The chameleon inflates his body with air, that he may ap- 

 pear to be a much bigger creature than he really is. From this sprang 

 the belief that the chameleon lived on air. 



The phosphorescence of animals is a subject not yet fully explained. 

 But without doubt it is partly defensive. 



One of the most queer and ludicrous methods of protection is seen 

 in the bombardier beetles. In description of this, listen to Pouchet : 

 " They alarm their enemies by means of real artillery. These coleop- 

 tera when threatened suddenly expel from their intestines a whitish 

 acid vapor, the explosion of. which as it issues produces a certain sound, 

 a slight detonation, which carries disorder among the aggressors. This 

 explosion may even be repeated a certain number of times. Hence, 

 when one of these insects is pursued by an enemy, it fires off its artil- 

 lery anew. The instinct of defense is so inherent in the tribe of bom- 

 bardiers that, at the sound of a cannon-shot from one of them, all the 

 others fire at the same time ; there is a running fire along the whole 

 line. The sound produced by these coleojDtera is intense enough to 

 startle those who do not know the ruse" 



Truthfulness is not an inherent virtue of animal character. Many 

 are the tricks, deceits, and devices by which they selfishly seek advan- 

 tage. A common artifice is that of feigning death in order to escape 

 the reality. " Playing 'possum " is a dodge not confined to those higher 

 animals to which we in our condescension grant the possession of a 

 degree of intelligence. The larva of the dytiscus, knowing the prefer- 

 ence of fishes for living active prey, when seized immediately becomes 

 flaccid and limp. The fish, supposing he has seized only a carcass, 

 drops it in disgust, and the dytiscus makes the most of his opportu- 

 nity. When the insect becomes a hard-skinned beetle, it, of course, 

 loses this power, and then employs a disgusting fluid, as before men- 

 tioned. 



Every collector of insects becomes familiar with species which have 

 the habit of quietly dropping from the plants on which they feed to 

 the ground, upon the least alarm. 



Hunters are familiar with many wiles by which pursued animals 

 endeavor to elude their pursuers and throw them off the scent. The 

 fox has the habit of doubling on his track, of walking fences, and go- 

 ing into water. Wood thus describes the habit of a South African 

 antelope, the duyker-bok : "If the sportsman should happen to over- 

 take this buck, it will lie still, watching him attentively, and will not 

 move until it is aware that it is observed. It will then jump up and 



