Darwinism (1889): An exposition of the theory of natural selection, with some of its applicationsWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
Darwinism (1889): An exposition of the theory of natural selection, with some of its applications
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Evolution; Natural selection
Some of the most curious examples of minute imitation are afforded by
the caterpillars of the geometer moths, which are always brown or
reddish, and resemble in form little twigs of the plant on which they
feed. They have the habit, when at rest, of standing out obliquely from
the branch, to which they hold on by their hind pair of prolegs or
claspers, and remain motionless for hours. Speaking of these protective
resemblances Mr. Jenner Weir says: "After being thirty years an
entomologist I was deceived myself, and took out my pruning scissors to
cut from a plum tree a spur which I thought I had overlooked. This
turned out to be the larva of a geometer two inches long. I showed it
to several members of my family, and defined a space of four inches in
which it was to be seen, but none of them could perceive that it was a
caterpillar."[72]
One more example of a protected caterpillar must be given. Mr. A.
Everett, writing from Sarawak, Borneo, says: "I had a caterpillar
brought me, which, being mixed by my boy with some other things, I took
to be a bit of moss with two exquisite pinky-white seed-capsules; but I
soon saw that it moved, and examining it more closely found out its real
character: it is covered with hair, with two little pink spots on the
upper surface, the general hue being more green. Its motions are very
slow, and when eating the head is withdrawn beneath a fleshy mobile
hood, so that the action of feeding does not produce any movement
externally. It was found in the limestone hills at Busan, the situation
of all others where mosses are most plentiful and delicate, and where
they partially clothe most of the protruding masses of rock."
_How these Imitations have been Produced._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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