PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES, AND MIMICRY 215 



the daytime, dressed in a bright livery of red and blue. 

 He can not be mistaken for any other, and his flaming 

 breast and blue stockings show that he does not court con- 

 cealment. He is very abundant in the damp woods, and I 

 was convinced he was uneatable so soon as I made his 

 acquaintance and saw the happy sense of security with 

 which he hopped about. I took a few specimens home 

 with me, and tried my fowls and ducks with them, but 

 none would touch them. At last, by throwing down pieces 

 of meat, for which there was a great competition among 

 them, I managed to entice a young duck into snatching up 

 one of the little frogs. Instead of swallowing it, however, 

 it instantly threw it out of its mouth, and went about jerk- 

 ing its head, as if trying to throw off some unpleasant 

 taste." 



Certain animals which are without special means of 

 defense and are not at all formidable or dangerous are yet 

 so marked or shaped and so behave as to present a threat- 

 ening or terrifying appearance. The large green caterpil- 

 lars (Fig. 137) of the Sphinx moths the tomato-worm is a 

 familiar one of these larvae have a formidable-looking, 



FIG. 137. A " tomato-worm " larva of the Sphinx moth, Phlegethontius Carolina, 

 showing terrifying appearance. 



sharp horn on the back of the next to last body ring. 

 AVhen disturbed they lift the hinder part of the body, bear- 

 ing the horn, and move it about threateningly. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, the horn is not at all a weapon of defense, but is 

 quite harmless. Numerous insects when disturbed lift 

 the hind part of the body, and by making threatening mo- 



