MY SOMALI BOOK 



235 



valuable observations of men like Mr. Selous, are in 

 fact only objections in seeming, and that the ascer- 

 tained facts are quite consistent with the general 

 theory of protective colouration. 



If we were forced to a contrary conclusion it would 

 seem to me almost a misfortune, as conflicting with the 

 harmony of Nature as a whole. For, while there have 

 unquestionably been other agencies, some of which 

 we recognise and others of which so far we know 

 nothing ; yet the protective principle in one form or 

 another is certainly, or so it seems to me, the principal 

 agency in the colouration of insects and the smaller 

 animals. Were it not so in the case of the greater 

 beasts the fact would be out of harmony with Nature's 

 wonderful consistency in applying, though with infinite 

 variety, the same great laws to all things that have 

 life, be they great or small. 



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