WAENING COLOURS 



187 



The warning appearance acquired by any insect is 

 also largely determined by the character of its previous 

 appearance, which formed the material upon which 

 at any rate the first steps of the change were built. 



In some cases we can successfully read the history 

 of past changes, and can point to certain parts of a 

 warning appearance which are remnants of a previous 

 mode of defence by means of Protective Eesemblance. 



Thus the orange rings of the caterpillar of the 

 Cinnabar Moth harmonise 

 well with the flowers of its 

 food - plant, ragwort. 1 The 

 acquisition, or perhaps only 

 the greater prominence, of 

 the strongly contrasted black 

 bands, and above all, the 

 gregarious habits, are the 

 later developments which have 

 followed the acquisition of an 

 unpleasant taste. Again, the 

 caterpillars of the Mullein 

 Moth (Cucullia verbasci), which 

 are so abundant and con- 

 spicuous on various species of 

 Mullein (Verbascum) , are even 

 now difficult to detect when 

 resting among the dark and 

 yellow sessile flowers studded upon the surface of the 



1 First noticed by T. W. Wood : Insects in Disguise, Student. 



isea 



FIG. 46. Two larvae of Mullein 

 Moth (Cucullia verbasci) on 

 the spike of the Mullein ; small 

 in last stage ; natural size. 



