I do not know if any other striking case of resemblance to an inanimate object (if plant life can be included under this term) is offered by the butterfly world, though there are several more of the same kind, but I cannot remember one just now. No doubt there are many which have not yet been discovered. We have, however, various instances of concealment even here in England, as, for instance, the peacock butterfly; but these, as well as special resemblances, are, for the most part, more marked in moths. The lappet moth, indeed, though it does not quite get the shape, looks very like a dead brown leaf, whilst in the buff-tip moth we are supposed to have a special resemblance to a piece of rotting wood, clothed with moss or lichen, and broken at each end. Personally, I have never received the impression of such a definite object, but only a general one of rot and decay. Even here, however, I do not believe I could ever be taken in, for the yellow head and tips of the wings, which are supposed to offer a perfect resemblance to the two broken ends of the piece of wood, are to me the tell-tale parts, and instantly cry out, “Moth!” In fact, soft as is the colouring of the buff-tip, it still seems to me a salient object, and I do not think very much of that bird’s eyesight who fails to detect it under anything like favourable circumstances. Another moth that flies by day, and is not uncommon in the United States, bears, when sitting on a leaf, a much stronger resemblance to a bird-dropping, but in this not uncommon form of imitation moths, and all other insects, are outdone by spiders, who use it aggressively against them, and particularly, it would seem, against butterflies, as the following instances will show. Mr. Forbes once, whilst travelling in Java, saw a butterfly settled upon a bird-dropping. He watched it for some time, and then, wondering at its long stay, approached cautiously, and, slowly extending his hand, actually caught it by its wings, between his finger and thumb—no mean feat, as it seemed, yet there was nothing to boast of. As he lifted the butterfly only the wings came away, the rest of it staying with the supposed bird-dropping, which was now seen to be a spider, who, having caught the butterfly by means of this shameful imposture, was quietly occupied in eating it. The disguise in this case was of the most wonderful perfection. “Such excreta,” says Mr. Forbes, who discovered this one, “consist of a central and denser portion of a pure white, chalk-like colour, streaked here and there with black, and surrounded by a thin border of the dried-up, more fluid part.”[105] The appearance of each of these constituent parts was successfully counterfeited by the spider in question, who, in its own person, represented the more solid material, and spun the rest with its web.