678 ZOOLOGY. 
Danais archippus, a common large butterfly, is not eaten 
by birds on account of its pungent odor, which is disagree- 
able to them. Another butterfly, Limenitis disippus, a 
smaller but similarly colored butterfly, which is 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 Hemiptera and Coleoptera; as stinging ants 
are not usually eaten by birds, this disguise is thought to 
protect the various forms which imitate them. 
Many highly-colored caterpillars, which live exposed on 
the leaves of plants, are not eaten by birds, owing to their 
bad taste. This and other bright-colored insects may be said 
Fig. 545.—Wasp mimicked by a bug.—After Belt, 
to hang out danger-signals to warn off hungry birds. Mr. 
Belt, in his ‘“‘ Naturalist in Nicaragua,’’ suggests that the 
skunk 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 Carnivora mistaking it for other 
night-roaming animals.’’? He also cites the case of a very 
poisonous, beautifully banded coral snake (Hlaps), which is 
“marked as conspicuously as any noxious caterpillar with 
bright bands of black, yellow, and red.’”” This author also 
found that while the frogs in Nicaragua 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- 
