52 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 



white like snow, especially in winter ; and 

 pelagic animals are blue. 



Let us take certain special cases. The 

 Lion, like other desert animals, is sand-col- 

 oured ; the Tiger which lives in the Jungle 

 has vertical stripes, making him difficult to 

 see among the upright grass ; Leopards and 

 the tree-cats are spotted, like rays of light 

 seen through leaves. 



An interesting case is that of the animals 

 living in the Sargasso or gulf-weed of the 

 Atlantic. These creatures Fish, Crustacea, 

 and Mollusks alike are characterised by a 

 peculiar colouring, not continuously olive like 

 the Seaweed itself, but blotched with rounded 

 more or less irregular patches of bright, opake 

 white, so as closely to resemble fronds cov- 

 ered with patches of Flustra or Barnacles. 



Take the case of caterpillars, which are 

 especially defenceless, and which as a rule 

 feed on leaves. The smallest and youngest 

 are green, like the leaves on which they live. 

 When they become larger, they are char- 

 acterised by longitudinal lines, which break 

 up the surface and thus render them less 



