COLOUK SCHEMES, 51 



We may remember tliat llie colour schemes of tlie very great majority 

 of insects have to us no meaning*. The few tliat exhibit Batesian or 

 ]\Iullerian mimicry or are warningly coloured, arc a very small part even 

 of known insects. The ordinary insect picked up at haphazard does not 

 fall into any class ; we can see sometimes that the colouring perhaps 

 blends in several scliemes, cryptic, warning, sexual and the like ; but avc 

 cannot judge in tlie least of the real value or significance of the colour 

 schemes of nine-tenths of the known insects. It would not be surprising* 

 if a growing* knowledge produced a far profounder and truer interpreta- 

 tion of colour in insects, more in accordance with tlie real needs and 

 necessities of insect life. 



pid 



