SEXUAL SELECTION 407 



Nor can it be held that warning coloration depends upon the intelli- 

 gence of the warned individual. Certain mimic butterflies may have 

 only a superficial resemblance to each other, but the resemblance is 

 sufficiently close to save the mimic from attack by the animals which 

 spare the mimicked forms. Birds are not close critics or students of 

 certain types of color patterns. A more critical observer would not be 

 so easily deceived. 



These considerations are wholly independent of the origin of 

 mimicry. Conceivably, there have been cases arising in nature in which 

 one species has developed certain characters which render it unfit for 

 food ; and another species, which may develop a color pattern similar to 

 that of the noxious form, has been spared because of this resemblance. 

 But all cases of supposed mimicry are not necessarily of this sort. As 

 Eigenmann 7 has shown, many cases which might, under other condi- 

 tions, have passed for mimicry are really cases of convergent or parallel 

 evolution, the similarities arising from similar responses of different 

 organisms to the same or similar features of the environment. Indeed, 

 Eigenmann's position seems especially strong, since he is able to sup- 

 plant the hypothesis of mimicry, wherever it is weak, by the more gen- 

 eral theory of natural selection. But the essential point to be kept in 

 mind in this connection is that, no matter how the resemblances may 

 have arisen, if mimicry protects at all, the mimic escapes because of the 

 lack of a keenly critical faculty in the pursuer. 



An animal of a low grade of intelligence is more apt to show uni- 

 formity of deportment than an animal of a higher grade. The frog has 

 never rivaled either the serpent's or the owl's reputation, possibly un- 

 deserved, for wisdom, but it reacts to a red rag with avidity. A really 

 intelligent animal would not be so easily humbugged. A contraption of 

 feathers, gay colors and steel wire will lure a trout from his pool, often 

 to his sorrow, but the deception in the hands of competent deceivers 

 proceeds from year to year. Any skillful angler will verify the state- 

 ment that it is the trifling things which are of importance in the pur- 

 suit of fish. The catfish is more prosaic and demands more of the 

 reality in the form of worms, not being satisfied with the mere semblance 

 of food. 



The arguments which apply to warning coloration apply equally well 

 to sexual selection, and it is clear from what has been said that neither 

 sexual selection nor warning coloration require any great amount of 

 intelligence on the part of the warned individuals or the pleased ones. 

 Indeed, it is conceivable that both processes might act more strongly in 

 animals which were not too intelligent. In man, financial, social and 

 family considerations often outweigh the more natural considerations. 



7 Eigenmann, Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 1909-10, VI., pp. 4-54, and 

 later papers. 



