The Making of Species 



he wrote : "As some writers have felt much 

 difficulty in understanding how the first step 

 in the process of mimicry could have been 

 effected through natural selection, it may be 

 well to remark that the process probably com- 

 menced long ago between forms not widely 

 dissimilar in colour" (Descent of Man, loth Ed., 

 p. 324). Such a statement is of course quite 

 inconsistent with the Neo-Darwinian position. 

 " The conclusion which emerges most clearly," 

 writes Poulton (Essays on Evolution, p. 232), "is 

 the entire independence of zoological affinity 

 exhibited by these resemblances ; and one of the 

 rare cases in which Darwin's insight into a bio- 

 logical problem did not lead him right was when 

 he suggested that a former closer relationship 

 may help us to a general understanding of the 

 origin of mimicry. The preservation of an 

 original likeness due to affinity undoubtedly 

 explains certain cases of mimicry, but we cannot 

 appeal to this principle in the most remarkable 

 instances." 



It is unnecessary to labour this point. It is 

 surely evident to everyone with average intelli- 

 gence that, until the resemblance between two 

 forms has advanced a considerable way, the like- 

 ness cannot be of utility to either, or at any rate 

 of sufficient utility to give its possessor a survival 

 advantage in the struggle for existence. Until 

 it reaches this stage, natural selection cannot 



234 



