TIIK :\IK \NI\(i AND TSK OF TUK COLol'IJ AND I'oKM OV INSECTS. 25 
of its mouth the folds of its skin are similarly coloured to the flowers, and 
by putting its mouth in a certain attitude it produces a shape very 
similar to the flower. Insects, attracted by what they suppose to be 
one of the red tlowers, lly within range, and become an easy prey to the 
lizard. 
Another clever instance of "aggressive resemblance" is that afforded 
by the Indian Mantis, a beautiful pink- coloured creature which feeds 
exclusively on insects. This Mantis is represented in the illustration. 
There it lies fattened against the leaf of a tree, and by stretching out its 
wungs and placing its legs in front, it makes itself appear, both in form 
and colour, like a beautiful flower. The deception is complete, as insect 
after insect has been observed to fly literally into its open mouth. 
Pkotective Mimicky. 
*' Protective mimicry " is the most important and perhaps the most 
interesting part of our subject. Protective mimicry is where one insect 
which is palatable mimics another insect which is unpalatable. In the 
illustration you have the Gold-tail moth on the right mimicking the 
Satin moth on the left. Mr. Poulton, in order to test this theory, threw 
one of these unpalatable Satin moths to a marmoset, which declined alto- 
gether at first to touch it, but after aw^hile, prompted no doubt by the 
ravages of hunger, it was compelled to eat it. In doing so, however, the 
marmoset showed signs of the greatest possible disgust. Mr. Poulton 
then offered it one of the palatable Gold-tail moths, but the marmoset 
could not be induced to eat it, although on a previous occasion it had 
eaten several Gold-tail moths with evident rehsh, thus showing that 
the Gold-tail moth ow^ed its preservation to its resemblance to the Satin 
moth. 
Another good example of "protective mimicry" is the drone fly, 
which mimics the bee. From a superficial glance the two insects very 
closely resemble each other, but in reality they are very different. The 
bee has four wings and the drone fly only two ; moreover they belong to 
different orders, the bee belonging to the Hymenoptera and the drone 
fly to the Diptera. The bee is provided with a sting, and on that 
account it is seldom, if ever, interfered with ; whereas the drone fly has 
no such method of defence ; its safety therefore depends upon its power 
to mimic the bee. 
A still more remarkable case of " protective mimicry " is that of 
a caterpillar mimicking a dangerous-looking animal. The caterpillar 
before us is that of the large Elephant Hawk moth. It possesses, as you 
see, an eye-like mark on each of the first three rings of its body, but these 
markings do not in the normal condition of the insect attract any special 
attention. Let the caterpillar, however, be apprehensive of danger or 
suddenly alarmed, and it immediately contracts the first two rings of its 
body, leaving only one eye-like mark visible, which gives it the appear- 
ance of some venomous-looking reptile ; and the effect is considerably 
heightened by the suddenness w^ith which it changes its position. In 
order to prove that such caterpillars create fear and alarm to their natural 
enemies. Professor Weissman put one of them into a trough containing 
