248 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



attack is made to drive off the intruder. If by any mishap 

 a young caterpillar is driven from its shell, death is certain 

 to result, for it cannot be induced to eat the shell of one 

 of its neighbours ! Beech, birch, oak and hazel are the 

 favourite food-plants of this interesting insect, and my 

 readers would do well to keep a look-out for specimens, 

 when they can verify these strange statements for them- 

 selves. 



But the Lobster-caterpillar has a rival in the posturing 

 business in the caterpillar of the American red-spotted 

 purple butterfly {Basilarchia astyanax). This creature is 

 curiously marked with varying shades of brown, olive- 

 green, and rosy cream-colour, and covered with strange 

 warts and prominences ; and in this motley garb he per- 

 forms the strangest of acrobatic feats. His common 

 attitude of rest is that shown in our illustration, where he 

 stands with his head bent under his body and tail raised. 

 Thus posed he will stand for hours, motionless — till, indeed, 

 the stimulus of hunger sets him moving. But there is 

 method in his madness, for so long as he remains still he 

 looks so unlike a live and luscious caterpillar that the 

 hungriest of birds, and the most assiduous of ichneumon 

 flies — the most formidable enemy that the caterpillar has 

 to face — will pass him by. 



Be it remembered that these instances of bizarre shapes 

 and colours are but samples, selected almost at random, 

 from a range that is bewildering in its number, and a like 

 extensive series of instances is to be found where the body 

 is transformed so as to simulate a likeness to the creature's 

 inanimate surroundings. The commonest form of this 

 protective resemblance, as it is called, is furnished by 

 caterpillars such as those of the thorn-moths and carpet- 

 moths, and the Brindled Beauty for example. Here, as 



