HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
There is such a thing as hiding in plain sight. You can look right at a tree-toad without seeing him, because his colors blend perfectly with the tree to which he is clinging. You can watch a green leaf curl up and shrivel without realizing that the curled edge is really a caterpillar, cunningly veined and colored to look just like a dying leaf; and out in the woods a speckled bird or striped animal will escape observation just because it matches the spotted light that comes through the underbrush. Nature is constantly protecting its helpless animals with colored coats that blend with the surroundings.
Long ago clumsy attempts at concealment were made when war-vessels were given a coat of dark-gray paint which was supposed to make them invisible at a distance. Actually the paint made them more conspicuous; but, then, concealment did not count for very much before the present war.
It was the eyes of the submarines that brought a hurry call for the artists, and up to them was put the problem of hiding ships in plain sight. A new name was coined for these warriors of the paint-brush: camoufleurs they were called, and their work was known as camouflage.