SHEET-BUILDING SPIDERS 159 



less for two minutes with little yellow drops of acrid 

 fluid exuding from the joints of its tarsi. It is curious 

 that, in addition to flight, this insect has three other 

 modes of defence, by shamming death, by a display of 

 warning colours, and by the secretion of an acrid juice. 



Weevils (Curculionidce) are a group of insects that 

 commonly sham death. The characteristic feature of 

 their attitude is the position of the antennae. Normally 

 the antennae are angular and project forward very 

 much like those of an ant, but when feigning death 

 they are turned downwards and curved in beneath 

 the flexed head so as to be completely hidden from 

 sight, and this is also their posture when the insect 

 is really dead. But a weevil will not sham death 

 when it would be more advantageous to adopt some 

 other mode of escape. It seems to have some sense 

 of discrimination in the matter ; for I placed one near 

 the entrance to a nest of carnivorous ants and, when 

 attacked, it never for a moment attempted to sham 

 death, but rapidly took to its heels. 



But the best instance that has come under my 

 notice of the strange practice of feigning death was 

 in the case of the butterfly Libythea myrrha. This 

 little butterfly is swift and erratic in its flight ; it is 

 protectively coloured on its under surface so as to 

 closely resemble a dried leaf, and in its movements 

 through the air it looks very like a moth. I once 

 observed the common bulbul, Molpastes leucogenys, 

 make a sudden attack on this butterfly. The Libythea 

 was fluttering across a dusty path when the bulbul 

 dashed swiftly on it. But the insect appeared to be 

 well aware of its danger, for it instantly checked its 

 flight and literally threw itself to the ground. Thus 



