196 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



ally eaten up till in the end, only the dead-and-dry 

 variation survived. 



Assume, then, that this habit in the baby cater- 

 pillars of the peacock butterfly of dropping off their 

 leaf, and of lying stock still in seeming death, is a 

 protection to them in danger ; that it has become a 

 fixed habit, and is perfectly automatic no more an 

 effort of reason than is the eating of a nettle leaf and 

 seed or the transformation of caterpillar to chrysalid, 

 chrysalid to butterfly. Here arises another question ; 

 why, as the baby caterpillar of the peacock butterfly 

 falls off its leaf and lies stock-still for whole minutes 

 in odd attitudes, does not the grown-up caterpillar do 

 likewise ? The full-grown caterpillar of this butterfly 

 does not fall down and sham dead when the nettle 

 is tapped, or itself touched with twig or finger. 

 Several times I have assaulted the large, full-grown 

 caterpillars of the peacock butterfly but they will 

 not perform as they did in their babyhood. They do 

 not tumble down, unless quite rudely shaken; and 

 they do not, when down, twist or double up and strike 

 fantastic attitudes, suggesting deadness and dryness. 

 Indeed, though they may cringe or writhe a little 

 when touched, they are not much concerned, and will 

 go on nibbling at the edge of their nettle-leaf. This 

 is a little embarrassing, if we have been hugging 

 fondly the belief that the habit of falling and of 

 shamming dead was protective in the baby cater- 

 pillars. If the baby protects itself or natural law 



