28 BUTTERFLIES 



been repeatedly pointed out by Professor Poulton, Mr. 

 Abbott H. Thayer, and various other authorities upon 

 animal coloring. The terms dazzling and eclipsing have 

 been applied to the phenomenon. 



Shortly after Lord Walsingham propounded this theory 

 I called attention* to its fitness in explaining some of the 

 most interesting color phases shown by American insects, 

 notably the moths and locusts which have brilliantly 

 colored under wings and protectively colored upper wings. 



The animals of the north show numberless color phases 

 of interest. One of the most curious of these is exhibited 

 by several families of insects in which the outer wings are 

 protectively colored in dull hues and the mider wings 

 brightly colored. For example, there are many species of 

 moths belonging to the genus Catocala found through- 

 out the United States. These are insects of good size, 

 the larger ones measuring three inches in expanse of 

 wings, and the majority of them being at least two thirds 

 that size. Most of them live during the day on the bark of 

 trees, with their front wings folded together over the back. 

 The colors and markings of these wings, as well as of the 

 rest of the exposed portions of the body, are such as to 

 assimilate closely with the bark of the tree upon which the 

 insect rests. In such a situation it requires a sharp eye to 

 detect the presence of the moth, which, unless disturbed, 

 flies only at night, remaining all day exposed to the attacks 

 of many enemies. Probably the most important of these 

 are the birds, especially species like the woodpeckers, 

 which are constantly exploring all portions of the trunks of 

 trees. 



*Popular Science Monthly, 1898, "A Game of Hide and Seek." Reprinted 

 in the Insect World, 1899. 



