244 BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 



have searched the ground in vain for the speckled eggs laid so openly on 

 some bare rock with the same lack of success that I have had. 



I want here to mention some points not always understood. It is 

 not supposed that the lower animals use cunning in their counterfeiting. 

 We consider rather that they are unaware of the part they play. They 

 certainly have no intent to deceive and are many times not conscious 

 that they have any advantages in concealment. The chameleon changes 

 color to suit the color of the substance it nests upon as nearly as possible, 

 v/ithout conscious effort. By destroying his brain with a wire and then 

 placing him on the colored backgrounds, this has been proven to be a 

 reflex action. 



The young robin instinctively remains in the posture I place him in, 

 no matter how uncomfortable it may be. The nighthawk flops around 

 and leads us away from her nest with no more thought than when she 

 formed the blotched eggs which are so difficult to see on the ground. 

 This leads up to a consideration of instinct and animal intelligence which 

 must be deferred to another time. 



Under the head of protective coloration are the many instances of 

 warning coloration. Here the animal seems made for show and certainly 

 intends to be seen. His colors stand out brilliantly; and as fitting actions 

 accompany coloration we notice in this class of animals a disdain of 

 concealment and often, in the case of flying insects, a loud buzzing noise. 

 The bumble bee goes about its business and makes all the noise it pleases; 

 In fact, seems to announce its coming. 



As an example of warning coloration notice the orange or yellow 

 banded bumble bees. If you are in doubt As to whether they need to con- 

 ceal themselves catch one of them in your fingers and learn wisdom. If 

 you need further experimentation next try the orange banded hornet. It 

 may be difficult to teach one who has tried these experiments that these 

 animals are well behaved, peace loving citizens of the insect world. If 

 you stop to reason you will perceive that you were the aggressor in this 

 instance and that you have hitherto carefully avoided thousands of these 

 yellow or orange banded insects flying around with a buzzing noise. 

 These insects are not armed with the intention that they are to use their 

 weapons frequently. The occasional one who is imposed upon teaches 

 the rest of the animal world to leave all similarly uniformed insects alone 

 and as a rule they go on their way unmolested and to these colors owe 

 their freedom from annoyance. Other insects like the brilliantly colored 

 beetles and the Anosia butterflies are very distasteful to birds and their 

 other enemies. Unless a bird inherits a suspicion against them he will 

 soon get a bad taste in his mouth that will remind him for all time of its 

 source. Certain caterpillars are likewise protected. Our common po- 

 tato bug has few enemies after it hatches into the larva stage. If it 

 were so fortunate with respect to its eggs it would no doubt exterminate 

 the potato plant. 



A very strangely marked blue frog of the tropics was placed before 

 a number of cautious fowls. After a time an unsuspecting gosling tooK 

 a number of cautious fowls. After a time an unsuspecting gosling took 

 for some time shaking its head and evidently very sorry for its error. 



