10 BUTTERFLIES IN DISGUISE 



such as one may now see every year in B. asty- 

 anax, sprang doubtless the whole story, and at last 

 we find a butterfly which has for a ground color 

 of both surfaces of the wings an orange which is 

 the exact counterpart of that of Anosia plexippus ; 

 by reason of which, in all probability, it enjoys a 

 freedom from molestation comparable to that at- 

 tributed to plexippus, so that it ventures more into 

 the open country than its allies, and thus gains a 

 wider pasturage and surer subsistence. 



It would seem, then, to be plain that all cases of 

 protective coloring and mimetic form come under 

 one and the same law, and have been produced by 

 the same means (the survival of the best mocker), 

 whether the subject imitated be animal, vegetable, 

 or mineral. The actual outcome is, indeed, vastly 

 more surprising in some cases than in others, — 

 in some " perfectly staggering," as Bates says ; 

 yet though there be to all appearances a ••" palj)ably 

 intentional likeness," there is found to be no inten- 

 tion in the case so far as mocker and mocked are 

 concerned, but the result of a natural selection 

 against which neither could even strive, and of 

 which neither was ever conscious.^ The process 



^ " Imitation " and " mimicry " both imply intention ; but 

 the limits of our language compel us to use figurative 

 speech ; we have no word to express unconscious mimicry. 



