556 Mr. A. H. Thayer on 



border), many of which even bear a representation of six 

 stamens (counting their two antennae), and, what is very 

 common in butterflies, a wonderfully perfect shading on 

 that part of the wings next the body, grading toward it 

 in a way that makes it appear like the bottom of a con- 

 cavity. My photographs of Limenitis (Basilarchia) artJiemis 

 show the flower-form, the appearance of the rim of its 

 cup being carried across the butterfly, as in the species of 

 Precis which wear a large, bright semicircular bar, cutting 

 them as the skunk's white cuts him. 



I should have placed at the beginning this axiom : 

 Only unsltiny, bright monochrome is intrinsically a revealing 

 coloration. As soon as patterns begin, obliteration of the 

 wearer begins, as shown in the case of the skunk. Nature 

 does not blunder, and Natural Selection would evolve tlie 

 monochrome, instead of a patterned surface, were simple 

 conspicuousness her aim. Also, she would, if she used 

 patterns mainly as badges for identification of the wearer, 

 have omitted the delicate subtilties that go to make up 

 the patterns of most butterflies. Let us apply the skunk- 

 lesson to the many dark butterflies which wear more or 

 less bright, clean-cut patterns. As they rest on flowers, 

 their darh matches very closely the shad»w-depths between 

 the flowers, especially when seen from above or outside the 

 flower-mass; and, in fact, the delicate general gradation 

 and faint detail existing even in these parts, appear to 

 an artist to represent the near vistas under the flowers; 

 while the bright pattern is likely to echo the notes of the 

 flowers themselves. Only artists understand this colour- 

 echoing. The artist's sight is conscious, as it ranges over 

 a scene, of every recurrence of each colour-note. This 

 colour-note, wdierever seen, seeks, as it were, its own, in 

 his brain, — just as a violin-string rings when its note is 

 sung. In a book we are writing on protective coloration, 

 my son and I shall show larvoe that resemble tilings 

 (already well known), larvse that disappear, larvge that 

 appear to be extensions of leaves ; and larvsB with many 

 other startling and dissimilar concealment-schemes. What 

 wonder if in butterflies there prove to be as many different 

 forms of concealment ? It is impossible to lay too much 

 stress on the fact that all patterns which look so striking 

 and bizarre, when off duty, are, when on duty, up to the 

 moment of detection, precisely the workers of the magical 

 illusion that conceals. It is inconceivable that birds should 



