204 Studies in Animal Behavior 



long antennae bent under the body and their legs 

 drawn up so as to assume a compact form. They 

 will lie in this way for several minutes, when they 

 may be seen slowly to relax; the legs then move 

 about, and soon the creature hops away by a sudden 

 extension of its abdomen. When caught in the hand 

 they will feign death again, and repeat the perform- 

 ance many times in succession. Other species of 

 sand-hoppers exhibit the same instinct, though less 

 perfectly, and there are traces of it in many of the 

 reactions of their aquatic relatives. 



The various species of wood lice exhibit the in- 

 stinct of feigning death in various degrees. Some 

 species are able to roll up into an almost perfect 

 ball and will remain in that state for a consider- 

 able time. Other species curl up, but make only a 

 very imperfect approximation to a sphere, and they 

 may maintain this attitude for only a short period. 

 Some myriapods when disturbed curl up in much the 

 same way. Among spiders death-feigning is not un- 

 common, especially among the orb weavers. 



It is among the insects that the death-feigning in- 

 stinct reaches its fullest development, occurring to 

 a greater or less extent in most of the orders. It 

 is especially common in beetles and not unusual 

 among the bugs, but it is quite rare in the highest 

 orders such as the Diptera and the Hymenoptera, 

 or the ants, bees and their allies. It occurs in a 

 few cases among butterflies and moths, both in the 

 imago as well as the larval state. The instinct is 



