A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK. 663 



mimicking spider of the eastern archipelago. We have also followed 

 Bates and Wallace along the Amazon, or Belt in the wilds of 

 Nicaragua, as they studied the tropical butterflies which mimic each 

 other so strangely. 



The fact that most published accounts of mimicry and protective 

 resemblance deal with animals of tropical countries has led to a gen- 

 eral impression that to observe these curious color phenomena one 

 must travel to out-of-the-way places; that the creatures about us are 

 commonplace and uninteresting. But to the seeing eye and the atten- 

 tive mind there are as many facts of interest in a stroll through 

 northern woods as through the Everglades. Richard Jeffries and 

 John Burroughs found in England and JSTew York most interesting 

 phases of tropical life, and had besides the exhaustless treasures of 

 their temperate out-of-doors to draw upon. The tropics are full of 

 strangeness to northern eyes, and possess many phases of life that 

 seem wonderful to unaccustomed minds. But the luxuriance of 

 vegetable life is almost oppressive; it is always in full glory; one 

 does not see the bursting buds and the greening leaves because the 

 full foliage overshadows all else. 



The animals of the north show numberless color phases of inter- 

 est. One of the most curious of these is exhibited by several families 

 of insects in which the outer wings are protectively colored in dull 



Catocala Moth in Flight. 



hues and the under wings brightly colored. For example, there are 

 many species of moths belonging to the genus Catocala found 

 throughout the United States. These are insects of good size, the 

 larger ones measuring three inches in expanse of wings, and the 

 majority of them being at least two thirds that size. Most of them 

 live during the day on the bark of trees, with their front wings folded 

 together over the back. The colors and markings of these wings, as 



