A Book of Natural History

Huxley, Darwin, Wallace, Burroughs and Maeterlinck, writing for young readers — thirty-odd essays by the great naturalists on everything from the man-like apes to what worms do.

The Color of Animals

9 pages in this part of A Book of Natural History.

The Color of Animals

HE color of animals is by no means a matter of chance; it depends on many considerations, but in the majority of cases tends to protect the…

The Color of Animals: Fabre

In some cases the form changes considerably during the larval state. From this point of view, the transformations of a small beetle, called…

The Color of Animals: Sitaris

M. Fabre was in despair. The first ray of light came to him from our countryman Newport, who ascertained that a small parasite found on one…

The Color of Animals: Lappets

Blue is, among caterpillars, even a rarer color than red. Indeed, among our larger larvæ, the only cases I can recall are the Lappets…

The Color of Animals: Hawk-moth

The Oleander Hawk-moth is also an interesting case.

The Color of Animals: Stage

After five or six days, and when they are about a quarter of an inch in length, they go through their first moult. In their second stage…

The Color of Animals: Elephant

Every one must have observed that these large caterpillars - as, for instance, that of the small Elephant Hawk-moth (Fig. 10) - have a sort…

The Color of Animals: Chœrocampa

Another joined her, and then another, until at last there was a little company of ten or twelve birds, all looking on in astonishment, but…

The Color of Animals: Euphorbia

The caterpillar of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth begins life of a clear green color, without a trace of the subsequent markings. After the first…

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