(a isxy 7?) 
foes; and (3) the members of these unassailed tribes pos- 
sessed malodorous juices not found in the mimicking forms 
or their allies. From these data he argued that the explana- 
tion of these extraordinary resemblances was to be found 
in the great advantage it would be to species uncefended by 
offensive secretions, and therefore palatable and much hunted 
down, to find escape in the disguise of species recognized and 
avoided as unpalatable ; and traced the mimicries to the long- 
continued action of natural selection, perpetually weeding 
out by insectivorous agencies every occurring variation not 
in the direction of likeness to the protected forms, but as 
perpetually preserving, and so aiding the development by 
heredity of, every variation favourable to the attainment of 
the protective mimicry. 
This sagacious application of the Darwinian theory in 
solution of one of the most difficult and baftling of the pro- 
blems presented to zoologists, was of the greatest service and 
encouragement to all students of evolution. I retain to-day 
the liveliest recollection of the delight I experienced in the 
perusal of a copy of Bates’s memoir received from himself ; 
for his work was not that of the mere cabinet systematist, but 
came with all the force of face-to-face commune with the 
abounding life of the tropics. 
Before two years had passed, Bates’s explanation of 
mimicry was confirmed by his former companion in explora- 
tion, Alfred Russel Wallace, who, working with equal devo- 
tion in the Malayan Islands, had observed and was able to 
adduce a strictly analogous series of mimetic resemblances 
among Oriental butterflies, and gave his unreserved accept- 
ance of the Batesian interpretation.* Such support from the 
co-founder with Darwin of the theory of natural selection, 
and from a naturalist of the widest experience in both 
Western and Eastern tropics, was of the greatest weight with 
evolutionists generally. 
My own contribution to the subject was read to the Linnean 
Society in March, 1868.t In the previous year I had 
made an entomological tour in Natal, and had enjoyed some 
* Trans. Linn. Soc., xxv. (1864). - + Trans. Linn. Soe., xxvi. (1869). 
