Hypertely 



" All such criticism is founded on our imperfect 

 knowledge of the struggle for existence. The 

 impressions and judgments of man are immensely 

 influenced by the 'corroborative detail,' giving 

 ' artistic verisimilitude to a bold and unconvincing 

 narrative.' Indeed, the laughter which is in- 

 variably raised by this passage from The Mikado 

 is, I have always thought, not only or chiefly 

 due to the humour of the application, but to the 

 way in which a great and familiar truth breaks 

 in upon the listener with all the pleasing surprise 

 which belongs to epigram. Birds, the chief 

 enemies of insects, are known to have powers 

 of sight far superior to those of man, and, from 

 our experience of them in captivity, it may be 

 safely asserted that their attention is attracted by 

 excessively minute detail. Until our knowledge 

 of the struggle for life is far more extensive than 

 at present, the argument founded on Hypertely 

 may be left to contend with another argument 

 often employed against the explanation of cryptic 

 and mimetic resemblance by natural selection. 

 Hypertely assumes that there are unnecessary 

 details in the resemblance, that the resemblance 

 is perfect beyond the requirements of the insect ; 

 the second argument maintains that birds are so 

 supremely sharp-sighted that no resemblance, 

 however perfect, is of any avail against them. 

 In the meantime the majority of naturalists will 

 probably reject both extremes, and believe that 



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