Gadow on Coral Snakes 



could also distinguish them. . . . Quite often, 

 without even searching for them, I can see 

 cabbage whites and other butterflies asleep on 

 perches to which they by no means assimilate." 

 Mr G. A. B. Dewar suggests that the safety of 

 the resting butterfly lies in " the position, the 

 couch on high, . . . not the mask of colour or 

 marking." 



Two short visits to Southern Mexico sufficed 

 to show Dr Hans Gadow that some of the com- 

 monly accepted explanations of colour phenomena 

 are not the correct ones. 



Thus writing of coral snakes, he says, on 

 page 95 of Through Southern Mexico : " They 

 are usually paraded as glaring instances of 

 warning colouration, but I am not at all sure 

 whether this is justifiable. Certainly these Elaps 

 are most conspicuous and beautiful objects. 

 Black and carmine or coral red, in alternate 

 rings, are the favourite pattern ; sometimes with 

 narrow golden-yellow rings between them, as 

 if to enhance the beautiful combination. But 

 these snakes are inclined to be nocturnal in their 

 habits, and, except when basking, spend most 

 of their time under rotten stumps, in mouldy 

 ground, or in ants' nests in search of their prey, 

 which must be very small, to judge from the 

 size of the mouth." 



Dr Gadow goes on to show that although 

 black and red are very strong contrasts in the 



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