118 THE EVOLUTION THEORY 



favoumblo to startini^- and continuino- the processes of natural 

 selection. Fiirtherniore, we ha\'e to take into account the hosts of 

 enemies which (k'pend wholly or in great part on insects for food, 

 and destroy them in enormous numbers, eliminating- them in inverse 

 proportion to the perfection of their adaptation. Finally, there is 

 the extreme susceptibility of many insects to injur3^ This makes 

 it very desirable that they should have some disguise sufficient to protect 

 then\ from even the first attempt at an attack, since that would in 

 many cases prove fatal. 



