being absent, they are of the same yellow brown 

 colour as the female. 



Protective culoaration, with which mimicry ia 

 closely associated, is by no means confined to 

 tropical insects, as the examples in many of our 

 Maseums would Itad ns to believe, but becomes 

 evident upon examination in almost every British 

 species. It is much better seen in the field than 

 in mounted specimens, owing to the small space at 

 one's disposal and difficulty of placing the 

 specimen in exactly a natural attitude. It is 

 developed on the parts of the insect exposed to 

 view when at rest. Butteifltes show the under- 

 side of the hind wings and the tip of the under- 

 side jf the fore wings, and it is interesting to note 

 that while these two parts are coloured alike in all 

 our British butteiflies, about half of them have 

 the disc of the tore-wings {which is hidden) of a 

 totally different colour. iVJoths show the upper 

 side of the fore-wings, and the few species that 

 rest with expanded wings have a similar scheme 

 of colour on all wings. I propose now to give a 

 few examples, taking the butteiflies first. 



The " Blues'* rest on grass and rush heads, and 

 bear a number of small, eye-like spota. These 

 have the effect of breaking up the lines of the 

 insect in a manner similar to the stripes of the 

 zebra, and in fact, many of the protective colours 

 of insects owe their efficacy more to this than to 

 their complete harmonizing with their surround- 

 ings. The favourite resting-place of Anthocharis 

 cardamines is amongst wild geranium or 

 umbellifera'on hedge banks, and the green marbled 

 wings much resemble the fine cut leaves. Hatyrus 

 janira and many of its allies rest near the ground 

 at the roots of grass, where they are well concealed 

 by their sombre and unicolourous hues, while 

 Saiyrus semele, whose habit it i= to rest on bare, 

 stony ground, has its wings mottled grey brown. 

 All these species, however, only live for a short 

 time during the summer, tiying by day and resting 

 at night, and the need of protection is not so great. 

 To see protective colouring in its highest (develop- 

 ment among our butterflies we must examine the 

 genus Vanessa. These species emerge from the 

 pupse in August and live until the following Jane, 

 hybernating in a torpid state in hollow trees, 

 wood btacks, and outhouses, and are much exposed 

 to attack during that period. The bright, upper 

 side ot the wings is hidden when at rest, and the 

 curiously mottled brown underside, combined with 

 their notched outline, exactly resembles a piece of 

 rotten wood. 



Among the Moths, some of the most strikmg 

 examples occur among those appearing in the 

 autumn months. These are almost invariably 

 yellow or brown, and further, speaking generally, 

 tbe yellow species appear earlier than the brown, 

 so follo-ving the prevailing hue of the falling 

 Itaves, Where a differencri in habit obtains, we 

 immediately find a corresponding alteration in 

 colour. Thus Chesias spartiata, although an 

 auIUQin species, re=ti ou its food phinc, the 

 common broom, and greatly resembles the seed 

 pod of that plant, while Oporabia dilutaia exactly 

 match'r'S the colour of its favourite pwrch, a park 

 paling. In Pygxra hu--ephfila we notice a moie 

 elaborate protecLion. Witli its brown grey wings 



wrapped tightly round its body, it looks like a 

 piece of dead stick, a resemblame which is 

 intensified by its buff thorax and buff lunules to 

 the tips of its wings, which represent the broken 

 ends of the stick with an exactness that is little 

 short of marvellous. The fact remains that while 

 the larva swarms by thousands in our suburban 

 gardens, I can count the moths I hare found 

 during five and twenty years on the fingers of one 

 hand. The many species that rest on tree trunks 

 contribute all shades of grey and brown, generally 

 mottled considerably, and even a large insect like 

 Catocala nupta becomes invisible on a willow 

 trunk at a short distance. As another example of 

 exceptions that prove the rule, the few species 

 that feed on pine and rest on the trunks of that 

 tree are always some shade of red-brown. Another 

 interesting group consists of the moths inhabiting 

 fens and resting on the reed stems. These are of 

 many kinds, comprising examples in several 

 widely separated families, but all alike 

 are pale wainscot brown in colour, with 

 faint longtitudinal streaking, matching the dead 

 reed stems exactly. If, however, there is an allied 

 species with different habits, the colour also differs, 

 thus Viviinia ve^iosa from the feus is pale wainscot 

 brown, while the very closely allied Viminia 

 rumicis, a tree trunk rester from the uplands, is 

 mottled grey. The moths that rest exposed on 

 rocks and walls show a remarkable resemblance in 

 colour either to the rocks themselves or to the 

 lichens thereon, some species such as Bry-phila 

 perla developing grey, yellow or green local forms 

 according to the prevailing tints of the lichens in 

 the district. Perhaps, however, the largest num- 

 ber of moths, certainly among the Noctuse, rest on 

 or close to the ground, and this habit accounts for 

 their dingy brown colours. Even among these we 

 find a tendency to vary, and during a visit to 

 Sidmouth in South Devon, where the soil is all red, 

 I noticed that many of our common moths, which 

 are normally brown or greyish brown, were there 

 reddish brown. Gnophos obscurata is a species 

 that is very variable according to soil, being 

 almost white on the chalk, black on peaty moor- 

 lands, red on sandstone, etc. 



Among larvte we notice some splendid instances 

 of protective colouring. Those that feed on trees 

 and bushes are usually marked with diagonal 

 lines to accord with the ribs of the leaves, while 

 pine, larch and grass feeders are striped longti- 

 tudinally. In colour, too, the prevailing tints 

 are green or brown, both forms being often 

 developed in the same species, and it has been 

 proved by experiaient that the adoption of one 

 colour or the other by the young larva is dependent 

 on whether green or brown twigs predominate in 

 its vicinity. \et another colour is developed by 

 some larvae in the New Forest (and possibly 

 elsewhere), this being a mottled grey, exactly 

 resembling the lichen-covered twigs which are 

 prevalent in that district. Added to these colours, 

 many larvoe are twig-lik" in shape, having even 

 knots and lumps on them to increase the deception. 



Insects that are protected by stings of nauseous 

 fiavour are bright coloured, frequently red, on its 

 debased form, jellow, and it has occurred to me 

 that this universal use of red as a warning colour 



