A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working EntomologistPackard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Science
A Text-book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as Well as by the Working Entomologist
Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
Insects
2. That two natural colors, madder-lake and indigo, can be produced
artificially by the influence of acid on fat-bodies.
3. As protein bodies in insects are changed into fat-bodies, and may be
changed by acids contained in insects into fat-acids, the formation of
colors in the same manner seems probable.
4. That colors can be changed by different temperatures.
5. That the pattern is originated probably by a combination of oxygen
with the integument.
6. That mimicry of the hypodermal colors may be effected by a kind of
photographic process.
7. Finally, color and pattern are produced by physiological processes in
the interior of the bodies of insects.
Krukenberg concludes that change of color (in perfectly developed
insects) is a consequence of the change of food, and can be
explained by the alteration of the pigment through heat and light.
His experiments were made in order to ascertain the cause of the
turning of green grasshoppers in autumn into yellow and pink. He
tried to answer two questions: First, does the pigment of
grasshoppers originate directly out of the food, and does it consist
of pure chlorophyll or of a substance containing chlorophyll, or is
it to be accepted as a peculiar product of the organism? Second, is
the color the consequence of only one pigment, or of several?
Special analysis proves that the green color has no connection with
chlorophyll. He concludes: “It is evident that the green color of
the grasshopper is the consequence of several different pigments
which can be separated by a chemical process.” Krukenberg believes
that light has a marked influence on the color of insects and that
light turns to red or pink the insects which were green during the
summer. It would seem, however, more probable that cold was the
agent, the change being due to the colder autumn weather.
Here we might refer to the results of the studies of Buckton and
Sorby, on the changes in color of Aphides:—
“1. The purple coloring matter appears to be a quasi-living
principle, and not a product of a subsequent chemical oxidizing
process. Mounted in balsam or other preserving fluids, the darker
species stain the fluid a fine violet.
“2. As autumn approaches and cold weather reduces the activity of
the Aphides, the lively greens and yellows commonly become converted
into ferruginous red, and even dark brown, which last hue in reality
partakes more or less of intense violet or purple. These changes
have some analogy with the brilliant hues assumed by maple and other
leaves during the process of slow decay.
“3. Aqueous solutions of crushed dark brown and yellow-green
varieties of Aphides originate different colors with acids and
alkalies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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