HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS 



131 



about five hundred eggs, usually amongst 

 the leaves of elder, honeysuckle, or fruit 

 trees ; and I need hardly add that each 

 of these eggs, if all goes well, gives birth 

 to a little caterpillar which every day 

 grows more and more stick-like, until 

 its mimicry is as perfect as 

 those examples illustrated in 

 my first paper. 



By shaking the branches of 

 oak trees during Jul}* some of 

 the curious larvae showTi on 

 p. 130 may be met with. These 

 caterpillars possess conspicuous 

 coloured patches and tubercles 

 bearing tufts of blue and red 

 hairs ; in fact, the larvse 

 appear as a mixture of colours 

 — yellow, red, blue, green, 

 brown, grey, and black. This 

 is the caterpillar of the Black 

 Arches Moth {Psilura monacha), 

 and it probably represents an 

 instance of "warning colours," 

 its striking liver}^ indicating to 

 its enemies that it is unpleasant 

 to the taste. There are many 

 instances of larvae, and even 

 fully developed insects, which 

 develop colours that make 

 them conspicuous, as a means 

 of protection: This method of 

 protection, of course, is a com- 

 plete contrast to that of the 

 stick-like caterpillars and other 

 insects which mimic their sur- 

 roundings to escape the eyes of 

 their foes. 



Now is the time when Dragon - 

 flies begin to be conspicuous, especially 

 the larger kinds. On this page is shown one 

 of the largest and swiftest-flying of these 

 insects amongst British species — a member 

 of the family .Eschnida. A few minutes 

 before I photographed this insect it was 

 hawking for small flies and midges up 

 and down a country lane, keeping more or 

 less to a particular stretch of the lane, and 

 every now and again coming to rest on a 

 branch of blackberries, as shown in the 

 photograph. Probably it was then digest- 

 ing the mouthful of flies it had captured. 

 The flight of these insects is very power- 

 ful ; they reverse their direction with re- 

 markable facility, even when travelling 

 at full speed. Their appetite is enormous, 



and their prey is captured while they and 

 their victims are on the wing. I once 

 saw a Dragon-fly bite quite a large piece 

 from the wings of a White Cabbage 

 Butterfly and immediately munch it up. 

 This may seem an extraordinarv occur- 



DRAGON-FLY. 



rence to witness, but it so happened that 

 I and the Dragon-fly were both after the 

 same butterfly, for after striking at the 

 butterfly with my net, I discovered that I 

 had captured a Dragon-fly as well as the 

 butterfly, and also that the Dragon-fly 

 had captured the butterfly. 



Their speed of flight, bright colours, 

 and gauzy wings contrast greatly with 

 their earlier stages, when they live as 

 crawling larvae at the muddy bottom of a 

 pond. These larger species, on account 

 of their powers of flight, often travel to 

 w(xxls and country lanes at long distances 

 from the place of their birth to seek their 

 ])rcy. I have frecjuently seen them in 

 towns hawking under trees ; in fact, 



