RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS. 127 



and patches of colour, that harmonious blending of 

 hues in lines and bands and shaded spots, which are 

 so general a feature in insects. It is the opinion of 

 Mr. Darwin that we owe much of the beauty of 

 flowers to the necessity of attracting insects to aid 

 in their fertilisation, and that much of the develop- 

 ment of colour in the animal world is due to " sexual 

 selection,'* colour being universally attractive, and thus 

 leading to its propagation and increase; but while 

 fully admitting this, it will be evident from the facts 

 and arguments here brought forward, that very much 

 of the variety both of colour and markings among 

 animals is due to the supreme importance of con- 

 cealment, and thus the various tints "of minerals and 

 vegetables have been directly reproduced in the ani- 

 mal kingdom, and again and again modified as more 

 special protection became necessary. We shall thus 

 have two causes for the development of colour in the 

 animal world, and shall be better enabled to under- 

 stand how, by their combined and separate action, 

 the immense variety we now behold has been pro- 

 duced. Both causes, however, will come under the 

 general law of " Utility," the advocacy of which, in its 

 broadest sense, we owe almost entirely to Mr. Darwin. 

 A more accurate knowledge of the varied phenomena 

 connected with this subject may not improbably give 

 us some information both as to the senses and the 

 mental faculties of the lower animals. For it is 

 evident that if colours which please us also attract 

 them, and if the various disguises which have been 



