FRAIL CHILDREN OF THE AIR 



I. 



BUTTERFLIES IN DISGUISE ; A STUDY OF MIMICRY 



Every observer, even the most casual, lias at 

 some time had his attention arrested by the strange 

 resemblance of some creature to the object upon 

 which it rested ; to this form of imitation the term 

 " mimicry " was applied as long ago as 1815 by 

 Kirby and Spence, in the introductory letter to 

 their treatise on entomology. "You would de- 

 clare," say they, ''upon beholding some insects, 

 that they had robbed the trees of their leaves to 

 form for themselves artificial wings, so exactly do 

 they resemble them in their form, substance, and 

 vascular structure ; some representing green leaves^ 

 and others those that are dry and withered. Nay, 

 sometimes this mimicry is so exquisite that you 

 would mistake the whole insect for a portion of 

 the branching spray of a tree." 



It is not a little curious that it was on the very 



