EYE SPOTS ON ANIMALS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 26 August 1933, Page 11

EYE SPOTS ON ANIMALS

YyilAT its th'e meaning of the eye 1 spots which occur'in many reptiles and in'socts Major R. W. G. Kingston, has m ! ade a special study of this curious feature, amid in a recent issue of the journal “Discovery” lie explains how the possession of imitation, eyes is one of the many kinds of “bluff” with which the more diefqucbleSs creatures are equipped by nature'. Of all patterns of animal colour, eye spots, or ocelli, arc- the most peculiarly impressive. They 'Consist' as a rule of a dark centre surrounded by a lighteoiloured ring, and as tlieir name suggests, give the impression of a real eye. They never occur among mammals. Some birds, however, arc alaborntcly equipped wits them. The magnificent eye-spotted' train of the peacock is the most splendid colour exhibition, imaginable.

Almost equally impressive aire the ocelli on the tail of the peacock pheasant or the wing feathers of the argus. Anioag reptiles there are good example'? in the cobra's spectacle? anid the blue Tings on_. the flanks of the oeellated lizard. The tortoise, Trionyx ga.ngeticus, carries them on its ba|ck. They are sometimes found on the Jins and 1 tails of fishes. Among insects they* occur* commonly on the wings of butt'e-r----flies and 1 .moths, the bodies of caterpillars, and less often on the wingcovers of beetles, man!ids, grasshoppers and homiptera. Whalt do they mean ? They can scarcely be anything but frightening devices, imitation' eyes painted on the anirnjfl' in order to intimidate its e'nemiies. “We can often see this frightening influence in operation,” continues Major Kingston. “Take, for example, the peacock’s eye spot's. Each has a heart-shaped centre of irridescent blue, around it a zone of brilliant green, them

Bluff to Intimidate Enemies

a zone of bronze, then a narrower one of brown, then, a fourth of gold. These splendid markings are usually regarded as ornaments for the delight of the female when the coick struts before her. It is true that the peacock does strut before his mate, but equally true that the mate does not seem, to appreciate liis exhibition'.

“What concerns u,s, 'however, is that [ the peacock, when, facing his enemy, 'spreads his tail .in -exactly the sarnie way and makes full display of hils glowing ocelli. Mr Darwin saw him thus behave before poultry and pigs. Mr Finn observed him assume this attitude before attacking a pheasant, and in order to frighten a orQw. Mr Stuart Baker writes that the display of spreading train is used ‘as a mean's of intimidation ais well' as of incitement to the -hen bird.’ Dr Lindsay mentions a cat that was frightened by a peacock. A ter.ror-mamia overcame it, involving utter loss of self-possession, followed by permanent [timidity. The spectacle that terrified it was the spreading of the train. “Peafowl, ecen when quite young, will try to intimidate an enemy with their .tail's. ‘lt was amusing,’ write® Mr Gairdner, ‘to watch chick® of three weeks old erecting sltiumpy tails- amd lowering wings to intimidate a. young macaque or a ground lizard; or when a little older, trying to frighten a woodpecker which had excited their wrath 1)v tapping on dry bamboo poles ’ “Thus it is Clear that the peacock’s train—as apart altogether from the matter of cou-rtshi'p—is a psychological weapon for use against enemies And I have little doubt that it® large and brilliant -eve spots are the .main element in the frightening influence which this splendid exhibition is able to bring about.”