328 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Dec, '05 



object so colored resting on the blackish bark would be revealed 

 to all animals in a much larger area, and would naturally dis- 

 appear more quickly. 



I believe that the senses and feelings, with the acts that pro- 

 ceed from them, are identical in all animals whether men or 

 insects. As an example, I mean that when I once discover a 

 certain insect, I continue to see and find it with greater ease in 

 exactly the same situations in which I was once unable to detect 

 it. This is owing to the fact that the eye is accustomed to the 

 insect's blending perfectly with its surroundings, and can now 

 separate it from these surroundings. Why should not animals 

 be able to do the same thing? I believe they can, for their 

 appetite is back of their being: able to observe. 



Last year I found several larvae of Papilio turnus on the 

 upper surface of a small tulip tree in the woods, and noticed 

 that their bodies harmonized perfectly with the peculiar dark, 

 bronze, metallic green. I doubt very much if I could have 

 seen this insect at all when a short distance away, when the 

 many leaves are considered and the darkness of the woods, to- 

 gether with this likeness. Even at a less distance than men- 

 tioned I could not have seen it if my eyes had not been accus- 

 tomed to its form, characteristics, and surroundings, unless by 

 accident or continued observation in one place. 



The larvae of many of the Saturniidse have been practically 

 invisible among the leaves of our common trees, although I 

 knew they were present from the excrement on the ground. 

 Surrounded by the multitudinous green leaves, varying so in 

 light and shadow, their bodies certainly harmonize perfectly. 

 Often have I seen the great resemblance of these larvae to a 

 rolled leaf, or a leaf overlapping another thus giving the 

 appearance of a dark streak, or an imperfection. All of these 

 conditions, when viewed from a distance, very often and strik- 

 ingly appear like caterpillars. Now, if these characteristics 

 were brought within a few feet of the observer, all the imper- 

 fections would be imperfections and nothing else ; the peculiar 

 conditions would vanish and we would only see the real insect. 

 Distance certainly governs to a great extent the laws of pro- 

 tective coloration and mimicry. 



