76 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



again to Fig. lo. Like most colored insects this butterfly pre- 

 fers localities colored like himself, and he often lights and sits 

 for a considerable time on trees and poles more or less covered 

 with lichens, from which he is indistinguishable except on the 

 closest scrutiny. 



This is true mimicry. The remarkable part of this particular 

 case is the habit of lighting and the manner of sitting. The 

 butterflies as a rule fold the wings together on the back im 

 mediately upon lighting, but this particular species, instead of 

 folding the wings, spreads them flat and sits with them in that 

 position. The resemblance to the lichen is not very exact, but 



Fig. II. Lower and upper surface respectively of Ancra phidile (author's 

 specimen), a tropical butterfly of the color of a dead leaf 



it is close in a general way, and the writer has often studied 

 for some minutes to find the specimen and make out the 

 outlines even when he had seen the creature in the very act 

 of lighting. 



Mimicry in structure is illustrated by another butterfly, which, '■ 

 with its wings folded together, exhibits a venation quite like 

 that of a small leaf of the beech or similar tree. Being of a 

 brown color, its resemblance to a dead leaf is close. It has two 

 very different methods of lighting. Commonly it folds its wings 

 not after lighting but before, in which case it flutters to the 

 ground not unlike a dead leaf falling from the tree. In other 

 cases it lights directly upon twigs or stems, in which instance it 



