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colour or of shajDe to the circumstances of their environment. I 

 shall confine myself principally to the order Lepidoptera {'.e. 

 butterflies and moths), which forms part of the class Insecta, the 

 most important division of the sub-kingdom Articulata. When we 

 consider the defenceless condition of this order, and the number 

 and rapacity of its enemies, we shall not be surprised if we find 

 that it has special means of protecting itself in the struggle for 

 life. A Lepidopterous insect has four stages of existence, that of 

 the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and perfect insect- We will first 

 consider the n'gg state. The egg is generally laid on the plant 

 which is to supply the future nourishmeut of the young caterpillar. 

 Sonie eggs are laid in the autumn, and so have to pass the winter 

 on the jilant, waiting for the first green buds to show themselves 

 before they liatch out. Others are laid in the spring and summer, 

 and 1 ave to remain but a short time in that condition, as the food 

 is waiting for the young larvae. Owing to the minuteness of the 

 eggs and the extraordinary care taken in depositing them, they are 

 but seldom found by human enemies ; but their chief enemies, the 

 birds, no doubt account for the destruction of a vast numbei , In 

 lft84 a cuckoo was captured in the garden of the old Charterhouse 

 School, in London, in the intestines of which large numbers of the 

 eggs of the Vapourer moth {Oigyia antiqna) w^ere found. This 

 moth is very plentiful in the London squares. Its eggs are depos- 

 ited on the outside of the cocoon. The eggs of the lackey moth 

 {B vihyx neudiia) are arranged in spiral batches around the 

 twigs of trees a}jd then coaied over with a protecting varnish, 

 while those of the gold and brown-tail moths {Portlits'a rJuysor- 

 rhce>i and P. aurifiiia) have a covering of fluffy down taken from the 

 abdonaen of the female moth. Most of the eggs are deposited on 

 the under surface of the leaves, generally close to the mid rib, 

 while in some orders, those of the wood feeding kind, such as the 

 Ghost and Leopard moths, and all the (learwings, the female is 

 endowed with a long pointed ovipositor, by which insertions are 

 made in the bark, and the eggs deposited therein. But it is not 

 until we come to the second stage of its existence — viz : the larval 

 or caterpillar — -that we find special means of protection exercised. 

 A caterpillar is a very defenceless creature. It has no external, 

 skeleton, but is simply a mass of soft tissue. As a rule it has no- 

 organs of atta< k, and but few of defence, with t'le exceptions that 

 will be mentioned presently. It therefore falls an easy prey to 

 its enemies, and its hope > f survival lies in its power of concealing 

 itself. With respect to larvse, we will first consider instances of 

 Special Protective resemblance. In no class is this more noticeable 

 than in that of the Geometers, or loopers, sometimes called " btick: 

 caterpillars." Those who have ever done any C(»llecting of cater- 



