1'KOTKCTIVE COLORATION. 117 



the remarks already made, that a few unreconcilable instances 

 do not of themselves overthrow a theory like tins which we are 

 di*eussing ; but they do not lend ranch support to Prof. 

 Drummond's contention that " mimicry is not merely an 

 occasional or exceptional phenomenon, but an integral part of 

 the economy of nature"; that "it is not a chance relation 

 between a few objects, but a system so widely authorised that 

 probably the whole animal kingdom is more or less involved in 

 it." On the contrary, the instances of mimicry, using that term 

 in the earlier and wider sense that Prof. Drummond uses it, 

 do not appear to be by any means so numerous as he would 

 lead us to infer. 



Certain apparently protectively Coloured Animals probably do not 

 owe their Coloration to the Action of Natural Selection. 



One of the commonest of British Moths the " Garden 

 Carpet " (Melaiu^pi' j/it<-tuar/a), abundant everywhere in the 

 early summer, and again later on, is an insect which would be 

 regarded by most people as an instance of protective coloration. 

 It is met with under the copings of walls, and upon tree 

 trunks, and in fact in nearly every kind of place ; the varied 

 browns and white of the wings are not unsuggestive of a 

 lichen ; and lichens are often found where the moth is found. 

 Several of the allies of the moth which are distinguished 

 from each other by the varying amount of brown (sometimes 

 black) and white, and its distribution, are found in similar 

 localities. On the other hand the moth is as commonly found 

 upon the leaves of trees both the under and the upper surface; 

 in fact, it will select any handy resting-place. When upon a 

 leaf, with the wings more or less extended, it resembles, as 

 Mr. Poulton thinks the Goose Egg Cilix sjnnula does, a 

 patch of birds dropping flattened out, through having fallen 



