ANTICRYPSIS 208 



colours, shape and habits concealing them from dis- 

 covery by enemies. 



The class of anticryptic colouration has not so many 

 examples. In it are to be found creatures whose con- 

 cealment aids them, primarily, not to escape their enemies 

 but to obtain their prey. 



On many occasions I have seen a butterfly apparently 

 caught by a flower which it had visited, and at first imagined 

 that the proboscis had become entangled. On examining 

 the flower it was found that the butterfly had been caught 

 by a spider, which had lain in wait on a flower which it 

 so closely resembled that, until one had had this experience 

 several times, one still imagined it was part of the flower. 



Two species, or possibly two forms of the same species, 

 have been frequently met with that thus caught their 

 prey, both of the " crab-spider " type. One was found 

 on a yellow flower like a small sunflower, the other was 

 on a milk-white flower of a small low-growing herb. In 

 each case the spider was of precisely the same tint as the 

 flower on which it caught its prey. 



The curious and interesting Mantidae are often quoted 

 as instances of anticrypsis. A species Pseudocreobotra 

 ocellata was abundant on the islands, and, like the spider, 

 varied in hue according to the colour of the flowers which 

 it frequented in order to catch its prey. One form, green 

 and yellow, was found on the small " sunflower," the other, 

 green and mauve, sat among the spikes of purple flowers 

 of an abundant aromatic labiate herb. Very young speci- 

 mens found on the latter were of a uniform purple or 

 mauve tint, and it was extremely difficult to see them. 



In aU these cases, however, the ^rocryptic element 

 cannot be definitely set aside, since birds are well known 

 to eat spiders, and Mantidae are so universally cryptic 

 that they must be supposed to be highly edible. ^ 



1 In 1916-17 I had a tame Cercopithecus monkey which, taken out 

 to himt for itself, would devour Mantidae with the utmost avidity. 



