160 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



Is IT Protective Resemblance and Mimicry Combined 



IN AuTOMEIUS lo ? 



?| OST insects possess some defensi^-e, aggressive, 

 gi or protective structures which are effective 

 against the attacks of their enemies. I have 

 given a number of examples in the foregoing 

 chapters. The possession of a sting, scent glands, or poisonous 

 hairs may each play a part in the protection of their lives. 

 Another means of safeguarding life is the possession of some 

 color pattern of a particular kind. Again, there are markings 

 that afford protection to the individual by setting up a .supposed 

 warning or illusion in the eyes of ils enemies. This illusion 

 may be attained either by general sinmlation of color markings 

 to the surrounding environment, or the illusion may be excited 

 by an arrangement of markings of such disposition as to re- 

 semble some in.sect better protected, or the imitation of some 

 flower or l>ird droppings, or it may even extend to mimicking 

 a different order of animals. Here we are concerned with a 

 discussion of some observations of one of our common moths, 

 Autnmcris io. 



On a cloudy day in June, I found one of these moths in a beech 

 wood very near to the ground. It was suspended from a dead 

 twig by the front and middle pairs of legs. As shown in the 



