INSECT ACTORS 119 



India looks exactly like a beautiful pink orchid. 

 The Mantis takes up its position on some plant 

 with bright green foliage, and patiently awaits 

 the arrival of any small moth or fly that may be 

 attracted by what appears to be a bright, con- 

 spicuous flower; then directly the deluded insect 

 alights upon the Mantis it is seized and devoured. 



Other species of the Mantidae are white, 

 purple, or a beautiful violet-blue in colour, and 

 so wonderfully flower-like are they in every 

 way that even botanists have been occasionally 

 deceived by them. 



Many spiders, too, practise the art of alluring 

 their victims by simulating some harmless look- 

 ing object. Some mimic the droppings of birds, 

 and lie motionless upon a leaf waiting to clutch 

 the unwary insects that alight upon it. Thomisus 

 citreiiS) one of our British spiders, mimics the 

 creamy, white buds of the wayfaring tree, amidst 

 which its lurks waiting for its prey in the shape 

 of flies who visit the blossoms. 



The meadow thistle and wild orchid are 

 also used as hunting-grounds by the Thomisidae 

 family, and so cunningly do they vary in tint and 

 marking, to suit the flower of the particular plant 

 on which they lie in wait for their victims, that 

 although openly exposed to view it is practically 

 impossible to detect their presence. 



The way in which insects have acquired these 

 numerous disguises, and become so wonderfully 

 adapted to their particular mode of life, is one 

 of the most interesting subjects in natural 

 history. All these perfect examples of mimicry 

 and protective resemblance have been brought 



