12 
colour or of shape to the circumstances of their environment. I 
shall confine myself principally to the order Lepidoptera (/.e. 
butterflies and moths), which forms part of the class Insecta, the 
most important division of the sub-kingdom Articulata. When we 
consider the defenceless condition of this order, and the number 
and rapacity of its enemies, we shall not be surprised if we find 
that it has special means of protecting itself in the struggle for 
life. A Lepidopterous insect has four stages of existence, that of 
the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and perfect insect. We will first 
consider the egg state. The egg is generally laid on the plant 
which is to supply the future nourishmeut of the young caterpillar. 
Some eggs are laid in the autumn, and so have to pass the winter 
on the plant, waiting for the first green buds to show themselves 
before they hatch out. Others are laid in the spring and summer, 
and |.ave to remain but a short time in that condition, as the food 
is waiting for the young larve. Owing to the minuteness of the 
eggs and tlie extraordinary care taken in depositing them, they are- 
but seldom found by human enemies ; but their chief enemies, the 
birds, no doubt account for tle destruction of a vast number, In 
1884 a cuckoo was captured in the garden of the old Chartezhcuse- 
School, in London, in the intestines of which large numbers of the 
eggs of the Vapourer moth (O:gyia antigua) were found. This 
moth is very plentiful in the London squares. Its eggs are depos- 
ited on the outside of the cocoon. The eggs of the lackey moth 
(B mébyx neustria) are arranged in spiral batches around the- 
twigs of trees and then coated over with a protecting varnish, 
while those of the gold and brown-tail moths (Porthes'a chiysor- 
rhea and P. auriflua) have a covering of fuffy down taken from the- 
abdoceen of the female moth. Most of the eggs are deposited on 
the under surface of the leaves, generally close to the mid rib, 
while in some orders, those of the wood feeding kind, such as the 
Ghost and Leopard moths, and all the (learwings, the female is 
endowed with a long pointed ovipositor, by which insertions are 
mace in the bark, and the eggs deposited therein. But it is not. 
until we come to the second stage of its existence—viz: the larval 
or caterpillar—that we find special means of protection exercised. 
A caterpillar is a very defenceless creature. It has no external. 
skeleton. but is simply a mass of soft tissue. Asa rule it has no- 
organs of attack, and but few of defence, with the exceptions that. 
will be mentioned presently. It therefore falls an easy prey to 
its enemies, and its hope «f survival lies in its power of concealing 
itself. With respect to larve, we will first eonsider instances of 
Spccial Protective resemblance. In no class is this more noticeable 
than in that of the Geometers, or loopers, sometimes called ‘ Stick: 
caterpillars.’’ Those who have ever done any cullecting of cater- 
