CHAPTER XXIII 



CAMOUFLAGED INSECTS 



BY Nature the art of camouflage has long been prac- 

 ticed. It is her way of affording protection to those of her 

 defenceless children who might otherwise fall victims to 

 predacious enemies. To us the word is a war-baby, com- 

 ing from the battlefields of France. It has since been applied to 

 an endless variety of things; most anything, which by nature of 

 peculiarly applied patterns, is made to blend with its surroundings, 

 and thus appear more or less obscure to the eye. 



Among insects camouflage has been carried beyond mere arrange- 

 ment of color, pattern. We find creatures whose general outline as 

 well as pigmentation mimics their natural surroundings to such a 

 marked degree that it is often difficult to distinguish where habitat 

 leaves off and where inhabiter begins. 



This curious state of affairs has been developed through thousands 

 of years by the process of selection. Individuals vary greatly in color 

 and those fortunate ones matching their surroundings .more closely, 

 naturally survived longer than their less protectively patterned 

 brothers. Thus, as time went on, the pattern of these selected in- 

 dividuals became dominant of the species, developed in some cases 

 to a phenomenal degree. 



A remarkable case of this kind is shown in Figure 109, of a cater- 

 pillar or larva which later transforms into a geometrid moth. In 

 the larval state the insect bears a very close resemblance to a twig. 

 Its habit of clinging to a real twig with its posterior "legs" and 



allowing the body to swing out, adds to the illusion. The head of 



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