III. PROTECTIVE RESE]\IBLANCE, WITH 

 EXAMPLES 



Darwin's Theory of Protective Resemblance 



WHEN we study animal life in general, it is remark- 

 able how many animals are afforded concealment 

 by their outer colors. This adaptation of external 

 coloring to the conditions of life is often associ- 

 ated with corresponding changes of structure and secures to 

 the animal still further safety by concealment. In the one 

 case it is color protection, in tlie other fc/rni protection, the 

 two sometimes appearing in the same animal. 



Modification of color so that it assimilates with that of the 

 surrounding environment has become highly sjjccialized in some 

 animals. The protective hues of the small ground sparrows, 

 the quail, grouse, and whip-poor-^\ill are famihar examples 

 among birds, while in the whole family to which the grass- 

 hoppers belong the insects present more or less monochrome 

 color patterns that aid in their concealment. 



Wallace writes: "It seems to be in proportion to their slug- 

 gish motions or absence of other means of defence, that insects 

 possess the protective coloring. In the tropics there are 

 thousands of species of insects which rest during the day, 

 clinging to the bark of dead or fallen trees, and the greater 

 portion of these are delicately mottled with gray and brown 

 tints which, though symmetrically disposed and infinitely 

 varied, yet blend so completely with the usual colors of the 

 bark, that at a distance of two or three feet they are quite 

 undistinguishable. " 



It will be remembered that Darwin ^ placed considerable 



stress on this subject. In his "Origin of Species" he says: 



"Insects often resemble for sake of protection various objects, 



1 "Origin of Species," pp. 214, 215. 



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