280 PROTECTIVE COLOURING 



constantly repeated ; the mellow flute-like call of another 

 cuckoo, the Toloho, whose notes we heard all the way from 

 Mahanoro ; the chirp and whistle of the Railbvy, or king-crow, 

 as well as the incessant twitter of many smaller birds. Then 

 came frequently the wailing notes of the lemurs high up among 

 the trees. This, however, was in November, when the hot 

 season was advancing. 



In our walks in the forest from the Ankeramadinika Sana- 

 torium (Chapters VIII. and IX.), we saw, it will be remembered, 

 many cases of protective colouring. As we are again in the 

 eastern forests, the following instances may also be noted. 

 There is found in these woods a curious walking-stick mantis, 

 about eight inches long and a quarter of an inch thick. It is 

 exactly the colour of a dried branchlet or twig, with joints 

 distinctly articulated like the nodes of many plants. The tail 

 (if the end of the creature may be thus called) is rather more 

 than an inch long, and is a hollow, canoe-shaped trough, some- 

 what resembling part of the bark torn off a twig. The legs are 

 alate and spiny. At about two inches from the head are the 

 wings and wing-sheaths, the latter being somewhat like obovate 

 stipules about half-an-inch long, and the former marked with 

 black and yellow and about an inch and a half long. When the 

 wings are closed, it would take a very keen eye to discover the 

 creature, as the part of the wing when closed is of the same 

 colour as the rest of the body. The legs can be brought to- 

 gether lengthwise in front, and so appear to form a continuous 

 part of the twig, especially as the femurs are hollowed out to 

 form a socket for the head. 



Another singular creature, a kind of springtail, known as 

 Tsikbndry, is found on the branches of certain trees. The tail, 

 which is about half-an-inch long a little longer than the body 

 of the insect is a remarkable and curious appendage. This 

 tail consists of a tuft of white threads, somewhat divided and 

 fluffy at the tip, and which, at the pleasure of the insect, can be 

 raised or lowered or spread out, the threads radiating in a circle 

 from the root. This tail is so exactly like a lichen in appearance 

 as thoroughly to deceive the eye. Unless a branch on which 

 a number of these tsik6ndry are seated is accidentally shaken, 

 causing them to spring off, they would be passed by as lichens. 

 The leap or spring is effected by a jerk of the tail. 



