. Animal activities; a first book in zoo?logy. Zoology; Animal behavior. 52 ANIMAL ACTIVITIES. its back a great number of pupa-cases of such flies is no uncommon sight (Fig. 67). Birds, too, devour im- mense numbers of insects in all stages of growth. Doubtless they would kill and eat all the insects were it not for the fact that many of them are so wonder- fully protected by their color or shape, or both. Protective Coloration. A butterfly or moth when pursued often disappears as if by magic, and only the most careful search reveals its presence. Then it is. Fig. 53.—Catocala Nupta. seen that
. Animal activities; a first book in zoo?logy. Zoology; Animal behavior. 52 ANIMAL ACTIVITIES. its back a great number of pupa-cases of such flies is no uncommon sight (Fig. 67). Birds, too, devour im- mense numbers of insects in all stages of growth. Doubtless they would kill and eat all the insects were it not for the fact that many of them are so wonder- fully protected by their color or shape, or both. Protective Coloration. A butterfly or moth when pursued often disappears as if by magic, and only the most careful search reveals its presence. Then it is. Fig. 53.—Catocala Nupta. seen that the insect has been rendered invisible, not by the helmet of Perseus, but by its resemblance to some natural object common in its vicinity. The Kallima, a large and brilliant butterfly of India, folds its wings and alights on a branch. The folding of the wings conceals every brilliant color, and the under side of the wing, which is now alone visible, resembles so accurately a leaf that a bird could find it only with great difficulty (Fig. 52). Some of our common moths, belonging to the genus Catocala, have outer wings so closely resembling the bark of birch-, poplar-, or willow-trees that when they alight on one of these trees they cannot be seen by a casual observer. Other cases of protective coloring are to be met with at every turn in the study of Zoology, and it is a part of the work of the student to find and describe Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original French, Nathaniel Stowers, 1854-. New York [etc. etc. ] Longmans, Green and Co
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