Packard.] 
INSECTS AS MIMICS. 
261 
the smaller, lighter species frequent the sandy light paths 
about our dwellings. Within doors the Reduvius (Figs. 56, 
57) covers itself with dust, a good disguise in approaching 
its prey and escaping its enemies. Ground spiders by their 
hues simulate the inequalities of the dark soil over which 
they run. The trap door spiders (Mygale, Fig. 62) are col¬ 
ored like the soil in which they, excavate their nests. The 
desert Mantis (Eremopliila) is of a sandy hue, and is easily 
confounded with the sands of the Sahara. An example of 
protective coloration is probably afforded by a moth of the 
silk worm family (Euleucophceus tricolor , Fig. 197), w r hich 
.inhabits New Mexico. Instead of the dark brown hues of 
its allies, it has a faded appearance, adapting it for conceal- 
Fig. 197. 
Euleucophaeus. 
ment while resting on the dry parched ground. It will be 
interesting to learn whether its exceptional style of color¬ 
ation adapts it for a life in the deserts of New Mexico. 
Here the change is evidently induced by the dry climate. 
The grasshoppers nearly always harmonize in color with 
the general hue of the fields in which they abound. They 
are most abundant towards the last of summer, when the 
fields have lost their freshness and the grass has turned 
brown ; at this time the russet garb of the Carolinian locust, 
and the red-legged grasshopper admirably conceal them 
when at rest. I have noticed the sulphur-winged grasshop¬ 
per (Arphia sulphured) flying about dry hillsides, and in 
northern Maine, the crackling grasshopper (Trimerotropis 
5 
