CAMOUFLAGED INSECTS 165 



the caterpillar resembles a leaf bud, while in color the entire creature 

 is an exact counterpart of a rough apple twig, the plant upon which 

 it naturally feeds. Thus complete immunity is secured from the at- 

 tacks of birds and all enemies which depend chiefly upon sight. 



A similar case is that of the slug caterpillar, Figure no, of the 

 family Cochlidiidae. Its general color is leaf-green with some small 

 amount of dark red near the head, which is pointing downward in 

 the photograph. On the whole, to the casual observer, it is scarcely 

 distinguishable from a swollen bud. Even more remarkable are the 

 caterpillars which rely for their protection upon their mimicry of 

 the excreta of birds, Figure in. I have been completely fooled by 

 these larvae on more than one occasion. They frequently rest in the 

 center of a green leaf and while conspicuous, never suggest a living 

 insect to the uninitiated. In color, the upper and lower portions of 

 the body are dark chocolate brown, banded through the center with 

 pure white, which suggests the lime so often seen in the excreta of 

 birds. The entire creature is highly glossed, which gives a fresh 

 and moist appearance to the object, which makes no attempt to con- 

 ceal itself, depending entirely upon its strangely camouflaged body 

 for protection! 



In the course of my field activities, I have run across a great num- 

 ber of cases \vhere insects were curiously camouflaged to their sur- 

 roundings. They are far too numerous to describe here in detail, 

 but one or two are of particular interest. 



In British Guiana, inhabiting the trails through the virgin forest, 

 is a tiny species of thecla, a bright blue, angular-winged butterfly. 

 Upon endeavoring to capture one or two specimens, I swooped with 

 my net in the ordinary way, where several individuals \vere flying 

 about chasing one another, but as I did so all of them disappeared 

 as if by magic. In a few minutes they returned, one by one, appar- 

 ently from the vegetation directly before my eyes. A second and 



