568 PROF. E. B. POULTON : NATTJKAL SELECTIOJ!f 



spider and an ant, or a motli and a wasp. And yet few could 

 bring themselves to believe that the resemblances which are here 

 contrasted have been built up by two entirely different sets of 

 forces. Mr. Blandford alluded to this relationship and gave it as 

 his main reason for accepting Bates's theory, although he rejected 

 the Miillerian theory of Common Warning Colours. This dis- 

 crimination in favour of the former theory is not justified by the 

 facts. The resemblance between different insect orders has not 

 been as yet sufficiently regarded from the Miillerian standpoint ; 

 but there are, and have been for many years, the strongest indi- 

 cations that here also much of the ground formerly believed to be 

 covered by the older theory will be found to be occupied by the 

 newer. 



The Miillerian theory by no means demands that the methods 

 of defence in the members of a convergent group should be 

 uniform. 



So long ago as 1887 (" The Experimental Proof of the Pro- 

 tective Value of Colour and Markings in Insects in reference to 

 their Vertebrate Enemies," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, pp. 191-274) 

 I tabulated the colours and markings of all insects which up to 

 that time had been experimentally proved to be specially defended, 

 and was enabled to apply to the whole group of conspicuous 

 insects the explanation offered by Fritz Miiller {I.e. p. 227). 

 This general conclusion will be found to be supported by many 

 facts and considerations in the paper referred to. 



In alluding to the resemblance which the black-and-yellow- 

 ringed unpalatable larva of Euchelia jacohcece bears to a w^asp, I 

 wrote {I. c. pp. 235, 238) : — " Thus it is more than probable (as 

 has been previously suggested by other observers) that the species 

 reudered consnicuous by alternate rings of black and yellow gain 

 great advantages from the justly respected appearance of Hornets 

 and Wasps. It must not be forgotten, however, that the latter 

 forms also probably gain to some extent by the greater publicity 

 which follows from the resemblance." 



1 may here digress for a moment and invite the attention of 

 those who dwell on the excessive amount of assumption in the 

 theories of mimicry, to the numerous tables in the paper mentioned 

 above. In these will be found recorded the whole of the results 

 of actual experiments made, up to 1887, upon the palatability 

 and unpalatability of conspicuous and inconspicuous insects. It 

 may be safely asserted that the theories in question are not nearly 



