MEANS OF PROTECTION. 31 
SOME MEANS OF PROTECTION IN 
THE LOWER FORMS OF LIFE. 
By H. J. BURKILL. 
AT TO BE EATEN,” is a saying of Frank Buckland’s which 
well deserves to be remembered. In this struggle for 
existence it is always the case of “The weakest must go 
the wall,” not only members of each species, but 
individual species themselves, as the Great Auk and the 
Dodo, which not being able to fly were consequently eliminated from 
the struggle which always terminates in the survival of the fittest. 
The fittest are those which are best calculated to live without 
being preyed upon by others. Thus each species as it requires a 
method of protection adopts the one most suited to its wants. Thus 
we have the case of the Hornbill, which has learnt to close up the 
entrance to its nest with a wall of mud, to keep the eggs safe from 
snakes. 
The methods of protection can all be classified under three heads: 
1. Habit. 
2. Colour. 
3. Armature. 
The first two are closely connected, both colour and habit occurring 
often in the same individual. 
The second of these, with which I shall begin, is perhaps the most 
interesting, following the classification of Mr. E. B. Poulton in his 
recent work on the Colours of Animals. He divides the colours into 
groups : 
1. Apatetic Colours, (deceitful,) ze. Protective and Aggressive 
mimicry. 
2. Sematic Colours (sign) by which enemies may be warned 
away by the similarity of the object to some other, which 
they have attacked before and found objectionable ; or 
the colours by which one species may recognise their 
friends. 
