Defence, not Defiance.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12021, 21 March 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

Defence, not Defiance.

Many interesting things were told by Professor Poulton, F.R.S. (Hope Professor of Zoology at Oxford), in a lecture at the Society of Arts on the subject of means of defence exhibited by animals in the struggle for life. Having spoken on a previous occasion upon the ways in which various creatures protect themselves by concealment, he now dwelt upon the singular defence which others make by rendering themselves conspicuous. The examples of the second class are riot really so numerous, he said, as those of the first. but seem common because the attempt to be seen is so successful. The little "ladj--bird" beetle is a familiar instance, the wasp and the hornet are others.- The ladybird has a taste and a smell which are unpleasant to insect-eating animals, and the wasp and the hornet have stings; and it ;■> r.h:"icteristic of creatures possessing s of defence that they advertise .•■■•-'■. as much as possible. The iw and marked for display, was ■;■■ ■ on the screen as a case in point, : unk, it appears, is not up to date. . ■ -.• ■-.--;: id to be fled from, through fear l-smelling fluid which it ejects :'ear, it expects—it would seem—- - motive also to run away, and is ".:•. over for want of discrimination. ■-■■ .11 not take hold of a salamander . ; • . account of a poisonous secretion r.: the amphibian, again, has great f light colour on a dark ground. ■■ '• :■: . and black would seem to be, in t world, warnings of something ole to the taste. A European • . shown which, on being disturbed, he ground on its back, revealing ngement of colours as a notice • horn it- may concern. Another rhen alarmed, keeps its bold, but s body downwards and raises its jvealing the yellow and black • on its body, and on two of its ch are put conspicuously forward. . 'essor exhibited another showy ■ - aich its enemies—spiders, lizards, id marmosets—agreed in declin.ey could get anything else to eat. ■in naturalist, Professor Plateau, vever, objected to the lecturer's n as to the meaning of the cond to disprove it he had eaten h and its chrysalis, finding the -■ather agreeable, sweetish, someipid. with a slight flavour of sweet This was all very well, but r "Poulton had a simple replv; tion was not what was agreeable ; reeable to a non-insect eating pat- what was disagreeable to the ■ that would not eat these moths. urer therefore pronounced this ex- " superficially plausible, but not lg." rofess-or described the experiments ssnr Lloyd Morgan at Bristol, in pheasants and chickens in' an inmid then playing practical jokes eir 'nexperience. But they soon j tJ>9 lesson tjiilt orange and black I

things were not good. From this ho showed, with many illustrations, the tendency there was, especially in the tropics/ for moths and butterflies to imitate the warning colouration of other sqiecias, so that,_ enough a bird would destroy s'emo life in gaining the knowledge of what to avoid, life would afterwards be saved, because it would not attack other moths, and butterflies similarly marked and coloured, litis fascinating subject was "followed, and illustrated, at consiaeraDle iougth. The professor had much to say about Ike threatening attitudes and noises of various creatures. Some of the manifestations were ridiculous, as in the case of caterpillars that swelled their bodies on the appearance of danger, raised a- grotesque frill or hood, or developed what seemed to be angry eyes on the bodywhen there was really no means of defence whatever. Of course, said the lecturer, it needed considerable size, or the possession of poisonous flings, to make an angry manifestation really alarming. The object of all the apparent hostility of some snakes was, not to threaten penichment, but to prerent an enemy -:rom pushing natters to extreme. There was our old friend the cobra, which usually retreated, !md was mo?t horribly frightened, for all its r.ngiy seeming, when it cr ; u;d not do so. A friend hod told him that when in Burniah he met with a cobra, and not having a butterfly net with him, with which he vsuallr caught these creatures, he sent his cervant to fetch it, keeping the snake occupied with a switch. The cobra made thn most cnriged demonstr.iTi.ns, but was nil the time feeing the grouud with the sensitive under part of its body until itfound a- crack large enough for its purpose, and then it was gone in » moment. Professor Poulton expressed utter scepticism with regard to stories of hamadryads pur.ining men. Colonel Bingham had told him of finding in a Burmese wood a male and a female" hamadryad, but they were only anxious to retire, and he was not, molested. The rattlesnake, again, warned an intruder, so that he might escape. Among other things which the professor ppoke of was the alarming demea.nonr of the male swan when he fancied his consort «r.d her nest were in peril. This the lecturer had watched r.t Brading Harbour. A dopr produced these symptoms of anger more than a, man, but he had seen a swan sufficiently terrifying to cause a photographer to disappear with his camera more than once.