LETTERS. 213 



the specially protected for ms is advantageous, in 

 reduc ing for each of them the number of individu als 

 which must be sacrificed during: the^rpcess of educa- 

 tion wh ich thei r youthful enemies must undergo, 

 before they learn what is tit and what unfit for food. 

 The ar rangement is, in fact, much like that between a 

 couple^of firms that issue a common advertisement, 

 and so save about half the expense of* advertising 

 alone. It is only another added to the numerous 

 examples of the product ion by natural selectio n, and 

 without the introduction of consciousness, of a result 



which could liot be bett ered by the deliberate acti on 

 of the most acute intelhgence . 



Meldola at once wrote to Darwin asking his ad- 

 vice about the translation of F. Muller's paper, and 

 received the following reply : — 



''JmieQth, 1879. "Down. 



"My dear Mr. Meldola, — Your best plan will be to write 

 to ' Dr. Ernst Krause, Friedenstrasse, 10 11. Berlin.' He is one 

 of the editors with whom I have corresponded. You can say- 

 that I sent you the Journal and called your attention to the 

 paper, but I cannot take the liberty of advising the supply of 

 cliches. He is a very obliging man. Had you not better ask 

 for permission to translate, saying the source will be fully 

 acknowledged 1 



" F. Muller's view of the mutual protection was quite new 

 to me: ~ —— 



— "Yours sincerely, \ " Ch. Darwin." 



The cliches were obtained and Meldola's translation 

 pubhshed in the Proceedings of the Entomological 

 Societyfor 1879, p. 2 0. The new contributio n to the 

 theory of mimicry was at first somewhat severely 



