160 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



Is IT Protective Resemblance and Mimicry Combined 



IN AUTOMERIS lo ? 



OST insects possess some defensive, aggressive, 

 or ])rotectivo structures which are effective 

 against the attacks of their enemies. I have 

 given a number of examples in the foregoing 

 chapters. The possession of a sting, .scent ghmds, or poisonous 

 hairs may each j)hiy a part in tlie protection of their Hves. 

 Another means of .safeguarding hfe is the possession of some 

 color pattern of a particular kind. Again, there are markings 

 that afford protection to the individual hy setting up a sup])o,sed 

 warning or illusion in the eyes of its enemies. This illusion 

 may be attained either by general sinuilation of color markings 

 to the surrounding environment, or the illusion may be excited 

 by an arrangement of markings of such disposition as to re- 

 semble .some in.sect better protected, or the imitation of .some 

 flower or bird droppings, or it may even extend to mimicking 

 a different order of animals. Here we are concerned with a 

 discu.ssion of some ob.servations of one of our common moths, 

 Automeris io. 



On a cloudy day in June, I found one of the.se moths in a beech 

 wood very near to the ground. It was suspended from a dead 

 twig by the front and middle pairs of legs. As shown in the 



