— 228 - 



öatocala является вь литература повымь. Изъ дальнЬйшаго изло- 

 жен1я, однако, видно, что его объяснеи1(' сводится къ принципу 

 контраста между окраской переднихъ и заднихъ крыльевъ у этихъ 

 бабочекъ, благодаря которому преследователь посл'Ьдней „обманы- 

 вается". Но этотъ принципъ 1;онтраста вполнЬ опред1>ленно выска- 

 занъ уже 15 л1зтъ тому иазадъ и даже именно въ примЪнен1и и 

 къ ]^оду öatocala. 



Именно Lord Л\' а 1 s i п g h а m ъъ своей президентской годовой 

 р-Ьчн въ Лондонскомъ Энтомологическомъ Общества въ 1890 г. вполн -fe 

 ясно и точно развилъ и иллюстрирова;п> примерами свой принципъ 

 контраста въ окраскЬ, какъ явлен1я, дЬйствующаго отвлекающимъ 

 образомъ на вниман!е преследователя контрастно-окрашеннаго на- 

 сЬкомаго. Приведу упомянутое лгЬсто \у\-,чи дословно, такъ какъ 

 считаю это пелишнимъ въ виду, очевидно, малаго знакомства съ 

 названной гипотезой Lord'a W а 1 s i п g h а m'a. На стр. L— LH ^) этотъ 

 авторъ пишетъ: „With regard to the uses of colour in insects for pro- 

 tective, aggressiA^e, or attractive purposes, so much has been said and 

 Avritten that it seems difficult to add any new suggestion; but there is 

 one point to which only a slight allusion is made in Mr. P о u 1 1 о n's 

 book, and which I do not remember to have seen insisted upon else- 

 where, — viz. the value of bright colours, temporarily displayed, as a 

 means of increasing the degree of security derived from protective tints. 

 My attention Avas lately drawn to a passage in flerbert Spencer's 

 „Essay on the Morals of Trade". He writes:— „As when tasting different 

 foods or wines the palate is disabled by something strongly flavoured 

 from appreciating the more delicate flavour of another thing afterwards 

 taken, so with the other organs of sense, a temporary disability follows 

 an excessive stimulation. This holds not only with the eyes in judging 

 of colours, but also with the fingers in judging of textures". — Here, 

 1 think, we have an explanation of the principle on which protection is 

 undoubtedly aflforded to certain insects by the possession of bright 

 colouring on such parts of their wings or bodies as can be instantly 

 covered and concealed at will. It is an undoubted fact, and one Avhich 

 must have been observed by nearly all collectors of insects abroad, and 

 perhaps also in our own country, that it is more easy to follow Avith 

 the eye the rapid movements of a more conspicuous insect soberly and 

 uniformly coloured than those of an insect capable of changing in an 

 instant the appearance it presents. The eye, having once fixed itself 

 ujion an object of a certain form and colour, conveys to the mind a cor- 

 responding impression, and if that impression is suddenly found to be 

 unreliable the instruction which the mind conveys to the eye becomes 

 also unreliable, and the rapidity with which the impression and conse- 

 quent instruction can be changed will not always compete successfully 

 with the rapid transformation effected by the insect in its efforts to 



-) W a 1 s i n g b a m, Lord. The President's Address. Proc. Ent. Soc. Lon- 

 don, 1890, гр. XLVIII— LX (перепечатано въ Psyche, VI, № 180, p. 67). 



Revue Eusse d'Entom. 1905. Л: ï>— 6. (Décembre). 



