COLOR AND PATTERN IX ANIMATE 



413 



for long times in tliis trying attitude. Tliey also laek the 

 middle proplegs of the body, common to other le})idopterou.s 

 larva}, the jn-esence of ^vhit']l would tend to destroy tlie illus'T 

 so successfully carried out by them. The common walking 

 stick (Di(iphcromera) (Vig. 254), with its wingless _ greatly 

 elongate, dull-colored l)ody, is an excellent example of special 

 protective resemblance. It is quite indistinguisha))le, when at 

 rest, from the twigs to which 

 it is clinging. Another member 

 of the family of insects to which 

 the walking stick Ijelongs is the 

 famous green-leaf insect {Phijl- 

 lium) (Fig. 256). It is found 

 in South America and is of 

 a bright green color, with broad 

 Icaflike wings and body with 

 markings which imitate the leaf 

 veins, and small irregular yel- 

 lowish spots which mimic decay- 

 ing or stained or fungus-covered 

 spots in the leaf. 



There are many butterflies 

 that resemble dead leaves. All 

 our common meadow browns 

 (Grapta), brown and reddish 

 butterflies with ragged -edged 

 wings, that appear in the autumn 

 and flutter aimlessly about ex- 

 actly like the falhng leaves, 



show this resemblance. But most remarkable of all is a large 

 butterfly (Kallwia) (Fig. 257) of the East Indian region. The 

 upper sides of the wings are dark, with jnu-plish and orange 

 markings, not at all resembling a dead leaf. But the butter- 

 flies wiien at rest hold their wings together over the back, 

 so that only the under sides of the wings are exj)osed. The 

 under sides of Kallima's wings are exactly the color of a dead 

 and dried leaf, and the wings are so heUl that all combine to 

 mimic with extraordinary fidelity a dead leaf still attached to 

 tlie twig by a short pedicle or leaf-stalk imitated by a sliort tail 

 on the hind wings, and sliowing midrib, obliipie veins, and, 

 most remarkable of all, two ai)parent holes, like those made 



Fig. 256. — The p'c:»n-lcaf iiKsect, 

 Pltyllium. 



