436 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



whenever handled. Most all of our species possess a musky 

 smell about them, very strong under some circumstances, and 

 very disagreeable to some people. When coming into our houses 

 in the evening bats have been known to get into the hair of some 

 lady present, generally by being knocked there by some male 

 member of the family present, in his efforts to kill the specimen. 

 When thus entangled, it requires skillful handling to get the 

 poor frightened little creature free again, especially as the lady 

 will often make the feat the more difficult by her agitation and 

 screams. Foolish and thoughtless people, largely under the in- 

 fluence of superstition, have cut the hair away under such cir- 

 cumstances, a totally unnecessary procedure. 



Just at this point I desire to say something about protective 

 resemblance, or, as many naturalists have termed it, protective 

 mimicry, as further on it is my intention to show how this impor- 

 tant law of nature applies to the animals being considered in the 

 present chapter. 



It is a w r ell-known fact that many of the living organic forms 

 in the world, .by their close resemblance to various objects in na- 

 ture, are often hidden or made less conspicuous to their enemies, 

 and so are protected and are preserved from extinction. Many 

 insects closely imitate such natural objects as the bark of certain 

 trees, various kinds of living or dead leaves, or stones, twigs, 

 lichens, and so on, thus greatly enhancing the chances for their 

 lives against enemies that are constantly in search of them for 

 food. For example, I have seen one of our common moths rest- 

 ing with its wings closed upon the bark of any large forest tree, 

 as a chestnut or oak, and so closely did its color and markings re- 

 semble that of the tree that it required the very closest scrutiny 

 to discover it. 



In the East Indies they have a small caterpillar that so closely 

 resembles the form often seen in the droppings of birds, that it 

 rests quite safe from molestation; and simply hundreds of other 

 instances of protective mimicry might be given for all kinds of 

 insects. But. this law is also extended to representatives of 

 every other group of animals of both the vertebrate and inverte- 

 brate divisions. 



Again certain animals imitate others, which latter enjoy im- 

 munity from attack, and thus their imitators are protected like- 

 wise. Certain flies have such close resemblance to bees, both in 

 the matter of form and coloration, that it serves them well in the 

 matter of protection: especially when these flies likewise possess 



