34 



THE WONDER OF LIFE 



Let us take an instance. From a pale emerald-green nest, 

 sent from the Gold Coast to the Zoological Society in London, 

 there emerged a crowd of young Mantids, about four milli- 

 metres in length, which exhibited a curious mimicry. 

 ' When crawling about the case they looked exactly like 

 a crowd of busy ants, their rapid darts and pauses recalling 

 irresistibly the busy method of progression so characteristic 

 of these Hymenoptera '. Now, there is nothing more pro- 

 fitable for an innocent little insect than to be like an ant, 

 for ants have a very bad reputation, or what corresponds 

 in the animal world to a reputation. But the interesting 

 point which was noticed by Mr. R. I. Pocock, the Superin- 

 tendent of the Gardens, was this, that it was only when they 

 were moving about that they resembled ants. When they 

 settled down they were seen in their true colours as 

 Mantises, ' raising the fore part of the body and head, folding 

 up their fore-legs, and every now and then swaying gently 

 from side to side as if rocked by 

 the wind. While thus employed 

 they were seen to be procrypti- 

 cally coloured '. That is to say, 

 they were inconspicuous. This is 

 obviously a very interesting case ; 

 when the little creatures were 

 resting they were hidden, and 

 when they were poking about 

 they were like ants ! Without 

 observations and experiments in 

 their natural surroundings no 

 naturalist could assert that the 

 FIG. 12. Spider, Synemo- young Mantises are saved from 



syna formica, like an ... 



ant. (After Peckham.) elimination by being mconspicu- 



