148 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



butterfly (Vanessa fTr/icce), are, we admit, very simi- 

 lar in colour to the nettles they are found on ; but we 

 cannot, surely, say the same of the dark black ones 

 of the peacock (V. Jo), also nettle feeders, particu- 

 larly as these are not only large, but keep together in 

 numerous companies; which also applies to the cater- 

 pillar of the Camberwell beauty ( V. Jlnliopa\ as 

 well as to the conspicuous caterpillar of the buff tip 

 (Pygcera bucephala, OCHSENH.), so very destructive 

 in certain years to beeches, oaks, limes, filberts, and 

 other trees.* Some of those just mentioned, indeed, 

 are provided, as we shall afterwards see, with better 

 means of defence than their colours; but if peculiar 

 colours be given by nature for the purpose of conceal- 

 ment, as in the instance of the caterpillars of the 

 small tortoise-shell, why are these studded with thorns 

 in the same way as the conspicuous caterpillars of the 

 peacock and the Camberwell beauty ? In this, as 

 in many other instances, the theory evidently proves 

 too much. 



To the examples which we have here given of 

 conspicuous caterpillars, we could easily add some 

 hundreds more; but thinking these sufficient, we 

 may be permitted, by way of farther illustration, to 

 allude to the instances remarkable in perfect insects. 

 Kirby and Spence mention a different kind of imita- 

 tion of form and colour, which they think f affords a 

 beautiful instance of the wisdom of Providence in 

 adapting means to their end.' One of those two- 

 winged flies (Vblucellce, GEOFFROI), which bear a 

 considerable resemblance to humble bees, lives during 

 the larva state in the hives of the latter; and it is 

 inferred, that as the flies ' strikingly resemble those 

 bees in shape, clothing, and colour, the Author of 

 nature has provided that they may enter these nests 



* All these caterpillars are figured in this volume: see con- 

 tents of the engravings. 



