SEXUAL VERSUS NATURAL SELECTION 127 



interesting letter 1 dated Jan. 23, 1872, proves 

 that Fritz Miiller before he originated the theory 

 of Common Warning Colours (Synaposematic 

 Resemblance or Miillerian Mimicry), which will 

 ever be associated with his name, had conceived 

 the idea of the production of mimetic likeness by 

 Sexual Selection. 



Darwin's letter to Meldola shows that he was 

 by no means inclined to dismiss the suggestion as 

 worthless, although he considered it daring. 



'You will also see in this letter a strange speculation^ 

 which I should not dare to publish, about the appreciation 

 of certain colours being developed in those species which 

 frequently behold other forms similarly ornamented. I do 

 not feel at all sure that this view is as incredible as it may 

 at first appear. Similar ideas have passed through my mind 

 when considering the dull colours of all the organisms 

 which inhabit dull-coloured regions, such as Patagonia and 

 the Galapagos Is.' 2 



A little later, on April 5, he wrote to Professor 

 August Weismann on the same subject : 



'It may be suspected that even the habit of viewing 

 differently coloured surrounding objects would influence 

 their taste, and Fritz Miiller even goes so far as to believe 

 that the sight of gaudy butterflies might influence the taste 

 of distinct species.' 3 



This remarkable suggestion affords interesting 

 evidence that F. Miiller was not satisfied with 

 the sufficiency of Bates's theory. Nor is this 

 surprising when we think of the numbers of 



1 Ibid., 201, 202. 



8 Darwin wrote, Aug. 2, 1871 , in very similar terms to Fritz Muller 

 himself. Life and Letters, iii. 151. 3 Life and Letters, iii. 157. 



