PROTECTIVE COLORATION AND DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES OF LARV.E. 81 



hang down, and resemble a bunch of the stipules of the foliage leaves 

 of the beech. 



Among American larvae we find many illustrations of this nature. 

 Packard says that the larvae of the Sckizurae exactly imitate a portion 

 of the fresh, green, serrated edge of a leaf, including a sere-brown 

 withered spot, the angular serrate outline of the back corres- 

 ponding with the serrate outline of the edge of the leaf ; and, as the 

 leaves only become spotted with sere-brown markings by the end of 

 the summer, so the single-brooded caterpillars do not, in the northern 

 States, develop so as to exhibit their protective coloration until late in 

 the summer, i.e., by the middle and end of August. The larva of 

 Schizura leptinoides is of the same shape and colour as a sere-brown, 

 more or less twisted portion, of a serrated leaf, such as that of beech, 

 hornbeam, and similar trees. The larva of S. unicornis is pale, with 

 much glaucous colour about the back, and with certain shades of 

 purple-brown, flesh-brown, olive, and pale green, that make it very 

 similar to the tints found on the withering leaves and canes of the 

 blackberry bushes. Miss Payne writes (Amer. Entom., ii., p. 341) : 

 I think this caterpillar furnishes a wonderful instance of mimicry. 

 The green segments just behind the head resemble a small portion of 

 the green leaf, and the other parts admirably counterfeit the brown 

 and russet tints of the dead leaf, whilst the form of the animal in its 

 various postures aids the deception, by its resemblance to a leaf partly 

 living and partly dead, the green mostly eaten, and the brown torn. 

 Eiley writes : The mimicry of the larva, when on the blackberry, 

 either stem or leaf, is perfect, and the imitative resemblance of the 

 moth when at rest, to the bark of a tree, is still more striking. 



Hudson records (Entom., xxiii., p. 55) that while gathering some 

 small branches from a birch-tree, on the table-land of Mount Arthur 

 (New Zealand), he discovered a beautifully variegated larva imitating 

 exactly the delicate hues of the lichen-covered twigs. After feeding 

 for a few days, it pupated, and, on June 7th, the imago emerged as a 

 very grey form of Dedana roccoae. He states that he had often before 

 seen the larva of this species around Wellington, where, however, it 

 does not in the least resemble the curious caterpillar found on the 

 table-land. A very similar instance is to be found in the larva of our 

 British species, Cleora lichenaria. So variable is this larva, that it 

 exhibits some peculiarity in almost every locality in which it occurs, 

 the peculiar tint, etc., causing it to closely resemble the particular 

 lichens on which it is feeding. Many years ago, Moller noticed a 

 general tendency for the larva of Amphidasys betularia to be yellowish- 

 green when living on the birch, ashy-grey when on oak, yellowish- 

 brown when on elm, yellowish-green, clouded with rust colour, when 

 on willow or poplar. This general tendency in nature has been found 

 by Poulton to be paralleled in confinement, under varying conditions of 

 environment, and the great amount of colour-variation artificially 

 obtained by this experimenter, shows how valuable all such colours 

 may be under certain possible natural surroundings, or on certain 

 plants th5t the species is known to affect. Thus, Poulton correlates 

 the whitish larvae of this species with trees and shrubs having white 

 pubescent or glaucous shoots. The green larvae he connects with rose, 

 the green shoots of sallow, broom, and Kibes americana. The brown 

 forms are associated with cherry, oak and birch, whilst Sidgwick has 



