34 
PATTERNS ON LIVING ANIMALS 
finch of Australia; and with the order of colour re- 
versed, under the wings of the bar-breasted finch, both 
of which may be seen in the Parrot House at the 
Zoological Gardens. In the smaller wing-feathers of 
the Argus pheasant, this spot-pattern is reproduced on 
almost the same minute scale as on the harlequin- 
duck and the little finches. Then by a sudden 
change it is found on the back of the larvae of the 
Gallium hawk-moth, a chestnut-coloured insect, with 
a row of minute white spots down the middle of its 
back, and two rows of rather larger white spots, one 
on each side. The larvae of the spurge hawk-moth, 
of the white-satin moth, and of the sycamore dagger- 
moth, also show it. Among butterflies, the Salatura 
Melanippus has a border of white spots on chestnut 
ground round the edges of its wings ; and the same 
arrangement may be seen on a shell — some kind of 
Gastropoda , if we remember rightly — which is “ com- 
monly observed” on cottage mantelpieces. The “ scale 
pattern ” is generally due in the case of birds to the 
natural shape of the feathers, and not to surface- 
pattern. A good example is the neck of the Amherst 
pheasant, in which the feathers are scale-shaped, and 
being edged with black, produce a beautiful pattern, 
and the neck of the golden pheasant, in which the 
corresponding feathers have square ends, and the 
black edging merely falls into parallel lines. The 
perfect rectangular diaper pattern is extremely rare in 
birds, but not uncommon in the larvae of moths and 
butterflies. It is seen in perfection on the backs of 
