678 



ZOOLOGY. 



Danms arcliippus, a common large butterfly, is not eaten 

 by birds on account of its pungent odor, ■which 1= disagree- 

 able to them. Another butterfly, Limenitis disippvi, 3, 

 smaller but similarly colored butterfly, which i= inodorous, 

 is supposed to be mistaken by the birds for the Danais, and 

 thus escapes destruction. 



Belt says that in Central America stinging ants are not 

 only closely copied in form and movements by spiders, but 

 by species of IIemij)tera waA. Coleoftera; as stinging ants 

 are not usually eaten by birds, this disguise is thought to 

 protect the various forms which imitate them. 



ilany highly-colored caterpillars, which liYe exposed on 

 the leares of plants, are not eaten by birds, owing to their 

 bad taste. This and other bright-colored insects mav be said 



Fl^. 545. — Wa^ minucked by a ling. — After Belt, 



to hang out danger-signals to warn off hungry birds. Mr. 

 Belt, in his ■ Xaturalisi in Nicaragua,"" suggests that the 

 sktmk is an example of this kind. ■" Its white tail, laid 

 back on its black body, makes it very conspicuous in the 

 dusk when it roams about, so that it is not likely to be 

 pounced upon by any of the CamiTora mistaking it for other 

 night-roaming animals.'" He also cites the case of a very 

 poisonous, beautifully banded coral snake (EIop'i. which is 

 '■ marked as conspieuonsly as any noxious caterpillar with 

 bright bands of black, yellow, and red.'' This author also 

 found that while the frogs in Xicaragua are dull or green- 

 colored, feeding at night, and all preyed upon by snakes 

 and birds, one little species of frog, dressed in a bright liv. 



