in PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS 53 



appear at first to be a source of danger to its possessor may 

 really be a means of protection. Many showy and weak- 

 flying butterflies have a very broad expanse of wing, as in the 

 brilliant blue Morphos of Brazilian forests, and the large 

 Eastern Papilios ; yet these groups are. tolerably plentiful. 

 Now, specimens of these butterflies are often captured with 

 pierced and broken wings, as if they had been seized by birds 

 from whom they had escaped ; but if the wings had been 

 much smaller in proportion to the body, it seems probable 

 that the insect would be more frequently struck or pierced in 

 a vital part, and thus the increased expanse of the wings may 

 have been indirectly beneficial. 



In other cases the capacity of increase in a species is so 

 great that however many of the perfect insect may be de- 

 stroyed, there is always ample means for the continuance of 

 the race. Many of the flesh-flies, gnats, ants, palm-tree 

 weevils, and locusts are in this category. The whole family 

 of Cetoniadse or rose chafers, so full of gaily-coloured species, 

 are probably saved from attack by a combination of char- 

 acters. They fly very rapidly with a zigzag or waving 

 course ; they hide themselves the moment they alight, either 

 in the corolla of flowers, or in rotten wood, or in cracks and 

 hollows of trees, and they are generally encased in a very 

 hard and polished coat of mail, which may render them un- 

 satisfactory food to such birds as would be able to capture 

 them. The causes which lead to the development of colour 

 have been here able to act unchecked, and we see the result 

 in a large variety of the most gorgeously-coloured insects. 



Here, then, with our very imperfect knowledge of the 

 life-history of animals, we are able to see that there are 

 widely varied modes by which they may obtain protection 

 from their enemies or concealment from their prey. Some of 

 these seem to be so complete and effectual as to answer all the 

 wants of the race, and lead to the maintenance of the largest 

 possible population. When this is the case, we can well under- 

 stand that no further protection derived from a modification 

 of colour can be of the slightest use, and the most brilliant 

 hues may be developed without any prejudicial effect upon 

 the species. On some of the laws that determine the de- 

 velopment of colour something may be said presently. It is 



