OAK-LAPPET. 289 



bramble, a hawthorn, or a blackthorn, or may be on a willow, 

 a leaf endued with life more than vegetative, albeit of feuille 

 morte hue, and wearing little of motive semblance. We have 

 said a leaf ; but we should rather, perhaps, direct the unprac- 

 tised eye to seek what more resembles a leafy group or clus- 

 ter ;* an object for which, on a transitory glance, the four 

 large wings of the Lappet Mothf are very likely to be mis- 

 taken. These are of shaded brown, glossed with violet, stiff, 

 strongly -ribbed, and deeply scalloped, and when the insect 

 is in repose (its usual state in the day-time) they are so dis- 

 posed by projection of the hinder pair beyond the foremost, 

 as to deviate from the usual moth-like contour, and thus ap- 

 proach more nearly to that of congregated leaves. 



The seeming vagaries of Dame Nature in thus, as it were, 

 dressing up some few among her children in masquerade attire, 

 have led to a deal of curious inquiry into the " why and be- 

 cause " of such unusual proceeding. Besides such copies as 

 those above noted, wherein the animal is made to put on the 

 vegetable form, there are noticeable among insects a number 

 of remarkable similarities in colouring with the leaves, or 

 flowers, or bark of the plants and trees they feed on, or 

 frequent; and, what is yet more curious, with the dead 

 and artificially-wrought substances, such as stone walls and 

 wooden palings, on which they are most frequently seen rest- 



* Vignette. t Gastropacha querdfolia. 



