=Alluring Coloration.= Besides those insects which secure protection from enemies by their resemblance to the inert objects among which they live, there are others whose adaptive resemblance, and therefore concealment, is for the purpose of securing their food,—for alluring their prey. A most interesting case of alluring coloration is that furnished by a wingless insect of India, the mantis. Its color and form are such as to closely resemble such a fantastic flower as the pink orchis. The insect rests motionless among the bright green foliage, being very conspicuous on account of its pink color, and looking so much like a flower that it allures and captures the butterflies which settle upon it. There is a species of spider (_Thomisus citreus_) of a creamy-white color whose abdomen completely resembles in color and contour the unopened buds of the flowers among which it rests. It has been seen to capture flies that were attracted to the flowers. There is another species of spider that looks exactly like the excreta of birds, and through this alluring resemblance captures certain butterflies. A naturalist has related how, in pursuing a butterfly through a jungle in Java, he was stopped by a dense growth of bushes. Here he observed a leaf with a bird’s dropping upon it, and sitting on this dropping was a beautiful butterfly. Surprised at such a usually dainty and pretty butterfly seeking such inappropriate food, he carefully approached to study the actions of the insect. The insect permitted him to get so close that he seized it by the wings, and to his astonishment a part of the body remained behind as if the bird’s dropping was very adhesive. He touched the dropping to see if it really was sticky, and found that his eyes had been deceived and that what he took for the excreta of a bird was a most artfully colored spider, lying on its back with its feet crossed and depressed closely to the body. The spider had been firmly holding the butterfly. [Illustration: PLATE III.—Caterpillar, B, of a Geometer Moth (_Prochœrodes transverrata_) on the stem of a plant (_Ailanthus_), A. Illustrating Protective Resemblance.]