Packard.] 



INSECTS AS MIMICS. 



279 



employed which are scarcely ever found in cork doors, such 

 as dead leaves, bits of stick, roots, straw of grasses, etc., 

 and I have seen freshly cut green leaves, apparently gath- 

 ered for the purpose, spun Fig. 210. 

 into a door which had re- 

 centl}^ been constructed." 



We have in this coun- 

 try a species of Tarantula 

 (Lycosa) which as if by 

 design covers its hole 

 with a mass of dead and 

 dry leaves, as indicated 

 in Fig. 2IG (after Emer- 

 ton). In an article in the 

 " American Naturalist," 

 vol. iv, Mr. Enierton tells 

 us that his attention was 

 drawn to these nests by 

 Mr. J. A. Lintner, who 

 noticed on the sandy hills 

 west of Albany, N. Y., a 

 number of holes about 

 half an inch in diameter, 

 each surrounded by a 

 ring of sticks and bits 

 of leaves loosely fastened 

 togetlier by fine threads. 



The larvse of Cassida, 

 the helmet beetle, and 

 Lema, which live exposed I^W 



. ,1 • 1 i. /> ii • Lycosa in it3 nest. 



to the sight of their ene- 

 mies on the ni)per side of loaves, arturd examples of what, 

 at some period in tlie life of the species, may have been a 

 conscious attempt at deception. The larva of Cassida is 

 broad, flat and oval, edged with long, sharp spines. By 



23 



