142 Permanence and Evolution. 



Some traces of a love of bright colours may 

 perhaps be found among some animals, but the 

 rule I think is contrary, and we know that 

 creatures at all different in appearance from 

 their compeers are almost certain to be baited. 

 The. whole notion of gay colours in males being 

 attractive to female animals is derived, I think, 

 from a most unsafe source, the anthropopathic 

 interpretation of the instinctive actions of 

 animals, of those actions which all animals 

 of the same race-type perform in the same 

 manner, such as their gestures in courting the 

 female. 



It is necessary, however, to take notice of 

 Grant Allen's attempt to account for sexual 

 selection. His theory is that females learn to 

 prefer bright colours when they are accustomed 

 to feed upon bright-coloured fruits and seeds, 

 and he attempts to show this in detail, though, 

 as it appears to me, with very considerable par- 

 tiality. The thing which requires to be accounted 



