Color and Pattern and their Uses 



607 



it towards them, but they would not let me approach, and kept running 

 away round and round their pole, so I threw the insect at them. Their 

 fright was ludicrous to see; with loud cries they jumped aside and clambered 

 up the pole as fast as they could go, into their box, where they sat peering 

 over the edge watching the uncanny object below." (Marshall.) Marshall 

 also writes concerning the eye-like markings on the wings of the mantis, 

 Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi: "They are, I think, almost certainly of a terrify- 

 ing character. When the insect is irritated the wings are raised over its 

 back in such a manner that the tegmina stand side by side, and the markings 



FIG. 793. Larva of the puss-moth, Cerura sp.; upper figure showing larva in normal 

 attitude; lower figure showing larva when disturbed. (After Poulton; enlarged.) 

 (See description of this larva on p. 394.) 



on them then present a very striking resemblance to the great yellow eyes 

 of a bird of prey or some feline animal, which might well deter an insec- 

 tivorous enemy. It is noticeable that the insect is always careful to keep 

 the wings directed towards the point of attack, and this is often done without 

 altering the position of the body." 



Directive coloration. Still another use is believed by some entomologists 

 to be afforded by such markings as ocelli and other specially conspicuous 

 spots and flecks on the wings of butterflies and moths, and by such apparently 

 useless parts as the "tails" of the hind wings of the swallowtail and Lycaenid 

 butterflies, and others. Marshall busied himself for a long time with collect- 

 ing butterflies which had evidently been snapped at by birds (in some cases 

 he observed the actual attack) and suffered the loss of a part of a wing. 

 Examining these specimens when brought together, Poulton and Marshall 



