94 



NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



the form and coloring of llie bod>'. Ponlton has shown that 

 some of the caterpilhirs frcqnentniK trees liave become so 

 adapted to certain provinces on the trees that to go beyond 

 these sections is at the peril of meeting death. Witness, for 

 instance, different kinds of larva; occupying the upper, the 

 underside, or the edge of the leaves, or again, on different 

 colored and different sized twigs which present leaf scars, 

 scales, and eminences of various kinds. All of these areas and 

 inequalities of surface and places are so many little ])rovinccs 

 or habitats within whose limits a particular larva may live 

 with comparative immunitj', but not elsevvhere. 



How' THE A 



CONTIA A 



ND St^'.noma Motjis are Protected 



flEN we view moths in 

 enloHiological collections, 

 uith wings spread and 

 neatly arranged on pins, 

 how little do we appreciate the 

 real philosophy of their varied markings! 

 Who, for instance, would understand the 

 meaning of the form and markings on the 

 jT wings of the little moth, Acontia erastriodes, here 

 portrayed, unless it were studied with relation to its natural 

 surroundings. This moth in nature bears a close resem- 

 blance to the excrement of a bird. During August, I found 

 it quite common on Ihe leaxcs of low herbage m a pasture. 

 When disturbed, it often flies from its exposed position on the 

 upper side of a leaf, to some other similar position on plants 

 a few yards away. I have flushed as many as three of these 

 moths within an area of a few yards. 



The one shown in the photograph is a typical representative. 

 It appears just as it was found en the leaf along with a bird 



