2l8 



PROTKCTIVE RESEMBLANCE. 



VI. Protective Resemblance. 



Of the many means of protection found amongst insects 

 none are perhaps more interesting, or of greater diversity, 

 than those by which concealment is effected by similarity 

 of the insects to their surroundings. In every order, 

 from the Coleoptera to the Diptera, and in all stages of 

 metamorphosis, there are found almost endless examples of 

 this kind of protection. Leaves, twigs and flowers ; grass, 

 moss and lichen, root and bark, soils and stones, in every 

 field and hedgerow, are copied in great variety by insects 

 which live and shelter upon them. 



Fig. i6. Ancylpcha luniiligeya (Borneo. 



This form of simulation is of two kinds, or rather serves 

 two purposes ; firstly to render the animal less conspicuous 

 and hide it from its enemies ; and secondly to enable it to 

 capture its own prey by waiting in concealment, or by its 

 being mistaken for something else. 



