Sept., '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 239 



Protective Resemblance. 

 BY R. E. KUNZE, Phoenix, Arizona. 



Having during the past nine years extensively collected of 

 the insect fauna of Arizona, some striking observations of the 

 means resorted to by insects for purposes of self-protection 

 have presented themselves. Insects suddenly started up from 

 a place of rest or after pursuit of an enemy, will instinctively 

 drop into a place of concealment, which it is difficult to detect. 

 Many Rhopalocera rifle the flowers which most nearly agree 

 with the colors of the upper surface of their wings, while others, 

 with folded wings, admirably succeed in escaping detection. 



Near Tucson I observed Terias mexicana feeding on flowers 

 of Acacia filicina, a perennial plant two feet high, bearing 

 white flowers and growing on the banks of ditches. This 

 Acacia much resembles a sensitive plant, and affords ample 

 protection to mcxicana. Flowers the size of a thimble cover 

 the axillary space of the leaf, and the greenish yellow of the 

 insect is well protected by many bipinnate leaves and blossoms. 

 Anthocharis pima, the earliest of our diurnals which flies in 

 Maricopa County, alights on the yellow blossom of Anisinckia 

 spcctabilis, a hirsute annual found on sides of mountain and 

 tableland. The small flowers crowded at the point of short 

 racemes furnish a secure place for our golden pima. Heleniiun 

 hoopesii, hardly distinguishable from the eastern elecampane, 

 affords a safe retreat for Gnophczla discreta. This day-flying 

 moth rests on the brownish-black disk of the larger yellow 

 flowers, and when disturbed takes refuge on another flower of 

 Helenium. Toward evening I have observed as many as 

 three and four discreta resting on a single flower, so that one 

 could push several into a cyanide bottle with perfect ease. 

 This plant is found in moist canyons or near springs, at an 

 altitude of 9,000 to 10,000 feet on the San Francisco Mountains, 

 near Flagstaff. Another day-flying moth, Melanchroia incon- 

 stans, feeds on this same plant, and its bluish-black color quite 

 harmonizes with the disk of Helenium. Inconstaiis is a little 

 wary geometer, very hard to approach in the hottest sunshine, 

 and I had to secure all with a net secured to an extension pole. 

 Higher up on the mountain I have noticed inconstans resting 



