CHAPTER V 



MIMICRY AND HOMOPLASY 



THE term convergence is applied to resemblances 

 amongst animals which are not due to direct 

 relationship or genetic affinity ; in other words, 

 which are not derived by inheritance from 

 common ancestors, but which result from inde- 

 pendent functional adaptation to similar ends : 

 e.g., the exuviation and regeneration of newts 

 as compared with the same phenomena in crabs 

 and lobsters, or again the coiled prehensile tail 

 and great rolling eyes, moving independently, 

 of Hippocampus and Chameleons. 1 



It has long been recognised as a dominant 

 factor in comparative morphogeny. Common 

 characters of adaptation in different animals 

 may be due to common inheritance, or they 

 may be due to convergence. Hence it follows, 

 in Semper's words, that the problem of the 

 morphologist is to learn to distinguish such 



1 These two striking instances of double convergence were 

 presented in respective juxtaposition by Mr Frank Buckland. 

 ("Curiosities of Natural History." Reprinted 1903, Macmillan, 

 First and Second Series.) Compare the case of the egg-laying, 

 duck-billed Platypus of Australia. 



52 



