MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 441 



decaying, and dead ; some in their color, and some both in their color and 

 shape. The caterpillar of a moth (Hadena Ligiistri) that feeds upon 

 the privet is so exactly of the color of the underside of the leaf, upon 

 which it usually sits in the day-time, that you may have the leaf in your 

 hand and yet not discover it.' — The tribe of grasshoppers, called Locusta 

 by Fabricius, though the true Locust does not belong to it, in the veining, 

 color, and texture of their elytra, resemble green leaves.^ — The tribe of 

 Phasmina — named praying-insects and spectres — also of the Orthoptera 

 order, often exhibit the same peculiarity, — Others of them, by the spots 

 and mixtures of color observable in these organs, represent leaves that are 

 decaying in various degrees. — Those of several species of Maniida like- 

 wise imitate dry leaves, and so exactly, by their opacity, color, rigidity, 

 and veins, that, were no other part of the animal visible even after a 

 close examination, it would be generally affirmed to be nothing but a dry 

 leaf. Of this nature is the PhyUium siccifolium, and two or three Brazil- 

 ian species in my cabinet, that seem undescribed, which I will show you 

 when you give me an opportunity. But these imitations of dry leaves 

 are not confined to the Orthoptera order solely. Amongst the Hemipiera, 

 the Phyllomorpha parodoxa, a kind of bug, surprised Sparrman not a 

 little. He was sheltering himself from the mid-day sun when the air was 

 so still and calm as scarcely to shake an aspen leaf, and saw with wonder 

 what he mistook for a little withered, pale, crumpled leaf, eaten as it were 

 by caterpillars, fluttering from the tree. The sight appeared to him so 

 very extraordinary, that he left his place of shelter to contemplate it more 

 nearly ; and could scarcely believe his eyes, when he beheld a living 

 insect, in shape and color resembling a fragment of a withered leaf with 

 the edges turned up and eaten away as it were by caterpillars, and at the 

 same time all over beset witli prickles.^ — A British insect, one of our 

 largest moths (Gastropacha quercifolid) , called by collectors the Lappet- 

 moth, affords an example from the Lcpidoptera order of the imitation in 

 question, its wings representing, both in shape and color, an arid brown 

 leaf. Some bugs, belonging to the genus Dictyonota of Mr. Curtis'*, 

 simulate portions of leaves in a still further state of decay, when the 

 veins only are left ; for, the thorax and elytra of these insects being retic- 

 ulated, with the little areas or meshes of the net-work transparent, this 

 circumstance gives them exactly the appearance of small fragments of 

 skeletons of leaves. 



But you have probably heard of most of these species of imitation : I 

 hope, therefore, you will give credit to the two instances to which I shall 

 next call your attention, of insects that even mimic flowers and fruit. 

 With respect to the former, I recollect to have seen, in a collection made 

 by Mr. Mason at the Cape of Good Hope, a species of the orthopterous 

 genus Pneumora, the elytra of which were of a rose or pink color, which 

 shrouding its vesiculose abdomen, gave it much the appearance of a fine 

 flower. — A most beautiful and brilliant beetle, of the genus Chlamys (Ch. 

 Bacca), found by Captain Hancock in Brazil, by the inequalities of its 

 ruby colored surface, strikingly resembles some kinds of fruit. — And to 



' Brahm. Insekten Kalender, ii. 3^3. 

 . * Hence we have Locusta r.itrifoUa, laurifulla, camellifoHa, mjjrtifoUa, sahifolia, (Sec, which, 

 I believe, all belong to a genus I have named Pternphylla. 



^ Voyage, itc. ii. 16. Westw. Arc. Ent. Plate II. ■* Brit. Ent. t. 154. 



