454 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the hood of a Cobra." He subsequently found that he " had 

 been frightened by a big Grasshopper, which, by puffing out its 

 wings, assumed a resemblance to the shape of the head of a 

 Hooded Snake ; while its noise was a good imitation of the dull 

 jerky hiss of some species of Snakes."* 



But it must be remembered, as Mr. Kirby has truly remarked, 

 that though these brightly-coloured caterpillars are probably 

 rejected by insectivorous animals as inedible, they are not pro- 

 tected " against the attacks of parasites, but rather the reverse." 

 He once bred some Tachinidce (parasitic Diptera) from the larvae 

 of the Spurge Hawk-Moth.f Mr. Pickard Cambridge states that 

 " upwards of a thousand parasitic grubs of the genus Microgaster 

 have been taken from a single caterpillar."! The many enemies 

 of caterpillars have been described by an Indian observer, who 

 writes : — " Upon the whole I think birds are the least important 

 of a caterpillar's enemies. At first, when it is so minute that a 

 bird would not be at the trouble to pick it up, it is exposed to the 

 cruelty and rapacity of hordes of Ants of many tribes, which 

 scour every tree and shrub, sipping the nectar in the flowers, 

 licking the glands at the bases of the leaves, milking the aphides, 

 and looting and ravaging wherever they go. Besides Ants, every 

 tree swarms with Spiders — not web-Spiders, but wolf-Spiders — 

 which run about in quest of their prey. Then come Wasps and 

 Ichneumons, and these, from a caterpillar point of view, are of 

 two sorts — those which will carry him to their own quarters for 

 the food of their children, and those which will quarter their 

 children on him, or, I should say, in him. Finally, the few that 

 have survived all these dangers have to run the gauntlet of the 

 birds."§ 



Poulton refers to the two Hawk-Moths (Sesia fuciformis and 

 S. bombyliformis) , " which in some degree suggest the appearance 

 of Humble-Bees," as instances of " mimicry of Hymenoptera by 

 Lepidoptera." But when he offered a living specimen to a Lizard 

 {Lacerta muralis), the animal was " not imposed upon in the 

 least, but devoured the insect without hesitation or caution. 

 Although Humble-Bees are eaten by Lizards, they are always 



* ' The Great Eift Valley,' p. 273. 



f " Hanb. Order Lepidoptera," 'Allen's Natr. Libr.' vol. i. p. xxx. note. 



I ' Royal Nat. Hist.' vol. vi. p. 26. 



§ Eha, 'A Naturalist on the Prowl,' pp. 122-3. 



