WAENINa COLOURS 161 



education involving only a small sacrifice of life. It 

 must not be supposed that nauseous properties are 

 necessarily attended by Warning Colours ; there are 

 very many instances in which they are accompanied 

 by Protective Eesemblances and habits. The common 

 cockroach is a familiar example of this latter asso- 

 ciation. 



Warning Colours in Mammalia 



The highest vertebrate animals are rarely protected 

 by the possession of the qualities which are most com- 

 monly attended by Warning Colours, viz. an unplea- 

 sant taste or smell. There is, however, at least one 

 mammal of which this is certainly true. This ex- 

 ample is brought forward in Belt's most interesting 

 book, ' The Naturalist in Nicaragua.' ^ Thus he tells 

 us that at night ' the skunk goes leisurely along, 

 holding up his white tail as a danger- flag for none to 

 come within range of his nauseous artillery.' He also 

 alludes to the foetid fluid which these animals ' discharge 

 with too sure an aim at any assailant.' He describes 

 the large white tail as laid over against the black and 

 white body, producing a very conspicuous effect in 

 the dusk, so that the animal ' is not likely to be 

 pounced upon by any of the Carnivora, mistaking it 

 for other night-roaming animals.' The conspicuous 

 appearance of the skunk is shown in fig. 42. 



» Second edition, 1888, pp. 174, 249, 250, 320, 321. See also 

 Mr. A. R. Wallace's Darwinism, 1st edition, p. 233. 



