Packard.] 
INSECTS AS MIMICS. 
263 
198) is of the exact color of the garden soil; it is only seen 
about the roots of the plant near the ground, while the little 
yellow beetle (Fig. 199) is a frequent visitor of the yellow 
flowers. 
Among the moths which hide on the surface of the ground 
or in the grass are the numerous species of owlet moths 
(Noctuidie). The Agrotis and Mamestra, and many others 
of this family, as caterpillars, show many pecu¬ 
liar adaptations in color to the soil on which 
they live. The dusky, livid cut worms would 
be easily overlooked as they crawl over the soil, 
when disturbed from their retreats under sticks 
and stones. They move about at night, and 
nocturnal insects are usually dull colored. On 
the other hand the pretty, green, cinnamon _ 
spotted Leptosia ( L . concinnimacula) flies by 
day in the short grass. When the larger, dull brown moths, 
such as that of the army worm of the north, are disturbed, 
they quickly dart into the dry rusty stubble, and it is almost 
impossible to detect them if they remain quiet, as they often 
have the instinct to do when an enemy is close at hand. 
Lichen-covered rocks are frequented by certain moths and 
butterflies which afford some of the most remark¬ 
able examples of protective coloring I have ever 
observed. This is particularly noticeable in Arc¬ 
tic and Alpine Lepidoptera. The cranberry fields 
and barren moors of Labrador abound in little 
Squash <r ra y ailc j (] im colored leaf-rolling moths, which 
are impossible to detect until they are startled. 
Some geometrid moths are called carpet moths in England 
from the large number observed carpeting the lichen and 
moss-grown rocks of the hills of Scotland. I have captured 
within an hour’s time as many as seventy-five of the Polar 
Glaucopteryx on Table Rock at the mouth of the Straits 
of Belle Isle. As they rested on the lichened rocks it was 
