1 862.] 



BOOKS MIMICRY. 



391 



keep a lot of the most noisy monkeys, half free, and study 

 their means of communication ! 



A book has just appeared here which will, I suppose, make 

 a noise, by Bishop Colenso,* who, judging from extracts, 

 smashes most of the Old Testament. Talking of books, I am 

 in the middle of one which pleases me, though it is very 

 innocent food, viz. Miss Cooper's 'Journal of a Naturalist.' 

 Who is she ? She seems a very clever woman, and gives a 

 capital account of the battle between our and your weeds. 

 Does it not hurt your Yankee pride that we thrash you so 

 confoundedly ? I am sure Mrs. Gray will stick up for your 

 own weeds. Ask her whether they are not more honest, 

 downright good sort of weeds. The book gives an extremely 

 pretty picture of one of your villages ; but I see your autumn, 

 though so much more gorgeous than ours, comes on sooner, 

 and that is one comfort 



C. Darwin to H. IV. Bates. 



Down, Nov. 20, [1862]. 



Dear BATES, I have justf finished, after several reads, your 

 paper, f In my opinion it is one of the most remarkable and 



* ' The Pentateuch and Book of 

 Joshua critically examined,' six 

 parts, 1862-71. 



t This refers to Mr. Bates's 

 paper, " Contributions to an Insect 

 Fauna of the Amazons Valley ' : 

 (' Linn. Soc. Trans.' xxiii., 1862), in 

 which the now familiar subject of 

 mimicry was founded. My father 

 wrote a short review of it in the 

 'Natural History Review,' 1863, 

 p. 219, parts of which occur almost 

 verbatim in the later editions of 

 the ' Origin of Species.' A striking 

 passage occurs showing the difficul- 

 ties of the case from a creationist's 

 point of view : 



" By what means, it may be 

 asked, have so many butterflies of 

 the Amazonian region acquired 

 their deceptive dress ? Most natur- 

 alists will answer that they were 

 thus clothed from the hour of their 

 creation an answer which will 

 generally be so far triumphant that 

 it can be met only by long-drawn 

 arguments ; but it is made at the 

 expense of putting an effectual bar 

 to all further inquiry. In this par- 

 ticular case, moreover, the crea- 

 tionist will meet with special diffi- 

 culties ; for many of the mimicking 

 forms of Leptalis can be shown by 

 a graduated series to be merely 



