506 Mr. G. Lewis' stipplementart/ note on the 



A few months ago I was observing daily Phyllium 

 Anthanysus, which in Ceylon feeds on the leaf of the 

 guava. Every nerve in the body of the larva of this 

 insect corresponds to a vein in the leaf of its food-plant, 

 and any one who is familiar only with the hard permanent 

 forms in the fauna of Europe can hardly realise the 

 degree of wonderment felt on seeing the insect alive for 

 the first time. In life it has the beautiful greenness of 

 the fresh guava leaf, and in death its tints fade graduallj'- 

 until it simulates in colour a dry specimen in the her- 

 barium. Yet here I can only see peculiar form, for 

 I believe the colour is of the same origin as in the leaf. 

 No one can doubt the two things are connected, and 

 have developed side by side, and I believe that the mate- 

 rial substance of both is such that they absorb and 

 reflect to us the same rays. In Ceylon, again^ the larvae 

 of the Daphnis nerii feed on the recently-imported chin- 

 cliona, and last January, in the early morning, I saw 

 tomtits going the round of the plantations and feeding 

 on the small caterpillars, which then measured about 

 nine lines in length ; the birds picked them off with the 

 quick movements of their species, and without the least 

 hesitation, evidently seeing the specimens clearly and at 

 once. These larvae were not protected by their colour, 

 nor yet by their resting, after the manner of Spliingidce, 

 on the under side of the leaves, for I spent some time in 

 searching in vain for overlooked larvae after the birds 

 had passed. In the young larvae the side stripes and 

 blue ocelli are scarcely visible ; these beautiful and 

 attractive markings do not develop conspicuously until 

 the grubs are too large for the tomtits, so there is nothing 

 in the stripes or eyes to disquiet the birds. Again, can 

 we see protective colours in large Carahi / A fine 

 Carahiis, such as riitilans and Hispaniis, can hold its 

 own on a Spanish mountain slope against such enemies 

 as it is now likely to encounter, and why at any ante- 

 cedent stage of its earlier struggles shall we credit it 

 with having more formidable opponents ? If the con- 

 ditions of its life were much altered, if the slopes were 

 covered with dense forest, for instance, the creature itself 

 would not be that of the present type. In the larval 

 state, no doubt its numbers are greatly checked, being, 

 perhaps, even decimated, by its own imagos, but I can- 

 not see protective colouring in their beautiful metallic 

 brightness ; 1 think their colours have originated through 



