ii.] RED AND BLUE ON CATERPILLARS. 65 



as exceptions, Z. lonicerce is marked with black and 

 yellow, and N. albulalis is variable in color, some 

 specimens of this caterpillar being orange. This last 

 species is also marked with black, so that neither of 

 these species can be considered of the green color 

 which serves as a protection. Thus, among the moths 

 tabulated, there is not a single hairy species of the usual 

 green color. On the other hand, there are fifty species 

 with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these, forty- 

 eight are hairy or downy. 



In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more 

 "or less marked with red. Of these, three are hairy, one 

 is an internal feeder, four have reddish lines, which 

 probably serve for protection by simulating lines of 

 shadow, and one (D. euplwrbice) is inedible. The last, 

 D. livornica, is rare, and I have never seen the cater- 

 pillar ; but, to judge from figures, the reddish line and 

 spots would render it, not more, but less conspicuous 

 amongst the low herbage which it frequents, 



Seven species only of our larger moths have any blue ; 

 of these four are hairy, the other three are hawk-moths. 

 In one (A. atropos) the violet color of the side stripes 

 certainly renders the insect less conspicuous among the 

 flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In C. nerii 

 there are two blue patches, which, both in color and 

 form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on 

 which it feeds. In the third species, C. porcellus, the 

 bluish spots form the centres of the above-mentioned 

 ocelli. 



Among the Geometridce, as already mentioned, the 

 caterpillars are very often brown, and closely resemble 



S. E. ,-, 



