PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN VERTEBRATA 67 



over a collection of eggs reveals hosts of interesting 

 problems which require solution. I look forward to 

 the time when any description of colour and marking 

 will be considered incomplete unless supplemented 

 by an account of their meaning and importance in 

 the life of the species. 



Protective Resemblances among Mammalia 



Among the Mammalia it would be hardly possible 

 to meet with a better example of protective colouring 

 and attitude than that of the hare as it sits motion- 

 less, exactly resembling a lump of brown earth, for 

 which indeed it is frequently mistaken. The dark 

 brown or grey colours of all our smaller quadrupeds 

 are also highly protective. The change of colour in 

 northern mammals in the winter will be described 

 in Chapter VII. 



Protective Resemblances among Fish 



The power of colour adjustment is very widely 

 distributed among fish and Amphibia, and will receive 

 attention in a later chapter. I will therefore only say 

 a few words about the Protective Eesemblance of the 

 former. 



Professor Stewart has shown me a beautiful ex- 

 ample in the Australian Sea Horse {Phyllopteryx eques) , 

 a fish which is covered with numerous cutaneous 



