CAN YOU FIND THE ANIMAL?

Can you find the moth resting on the bark of this tree? . . . Does anybody see a katydid in this picture? . . . You may never see a walking insect because it looks so much like the twigs. . . . "" Ross surveys some 20 examples of protective camouflage, including the polar bear's obvious adaptation to the color of the snow, the tree moth's recent darkening to match the soot covering city trees, and --the oddest yet--the lacewing who sucks out his insect victims' juice, then fastens their dead bodies into hairs coveting its back. The teaser approach built into this very first look at the subject invites a second look at the otherwise dull pictures, but at the same level Selsam's intelligently photo-illustrated Hidden Animals (KR 1969) follows up the come-on and the curiosities with an explanation of evolutionary adaptation (ignored here)-- and for slightly more advanced readers Lilo Hess' Animals That Hide, Imitate and Bluff (KR 1970) is even harder to overlook.