NOVEMBER 241 



In the course of time the unpalatable food would be 

 so familiar that custom would render it desirable. 

 If once the enemy was driven by hunger to eat 

 largely of any such insect, it would come in the end 

 to devour with relish the food which at first it ate 

 only under sheer necessity. 



There is but little doubt in these days that animal 

 colour must have been in the first place non-signifi- 

 cant. By the process of natural selection it has 

 become in many instances significant. Mr. Poulton 

 is a firm adherent of Darwinism, and, like that great 

 biologist, considers natural selection as the one 

 solid foundation upon which evolution rests. He 

 points out the direct testimony to this view which 

 has been brought to bear on the subject, and comes 

 to the conclusion that experiment would prove all 

 mimicked species to be dangerous or disagreeable 

 to the enemies of their class, and that all mimetic 

 resemblances are due to natural selection. 



K 



