COLOUR. 



87 



pied woodpecker; vegetable, red on the naked apple; mineral, 

 red orpiment. 



87. Arterial blood red ; the characteristic colour of the red 

 series. Animal, head of the cock goldfinch ; vegetable, corn 

 poppy, and cherry . . . 



88. Flesh red (rose red mixed with tile red and a little 

 white). Animal, human skin ; vegetable, larkspur; mineral, 

 heavy spar, limestone. 



89. Rose red (carmine red with a great quantity of snow 

 white and a very small portion of cochineal red) .... 

 Vegetable, common garden rose ; mineral, figure stone. 



90. Peach blossom red (lake red mixed with much white) 

 . . . Vegetable, peach blossom ; mineral, red cobalt ore. 



91. Carmine red, the characteristic colour of Werner (lake 

 red with a little arterial blood red). . . . Vegetable, 

 raspberry, carnation, pink; mineral, oriental ruby. 



92. Lake red, the crimson red of Werner (arterial blood 

 red with a portion of Berlin blue). . . . Vegetable, red 

 tulip, rose officinalis ; mineral, spinel. 



93. Crimson red (carmine red with a little indigo blue). 

 . . Mineral, precious garnet. 



94. Purplish red, the columbine red of Werner (carmine 

 red with a little Berlin blue and a small portion of Indigo 

 blue). Animal, outside quills of terico; vegetable, daik 

 crimson officinal garden rose ; mineral, precious garnet. 



95. Cochineal red (lake red mixed with bluish grey) . . 

 Vegetable, under disc of the decayed leaves of none-so-pretty -, 

 mineral, dark cinnabar. 



96. Venous blood red (carmine red mixed with brownish 

 black) . Animal, venous blood ; vegetable, musk flower of 

 dark purple scabious. 



97. Brownish purple red, the cherry red of Werner (lake 

 red mixed with brownish black and a small portion of grey). 

 . . . Vegetable, flower of deadly night-shade ; mineral, 

 red antimony ore. 



98. Chocolate red (venous blood red mixed with a little 

 brownish red). Animal, breast of bird of Paradise ; vegetable, 

 brown disc of common marigold. 



99. Brownish red (chocolate red mixed with hyacinth red 

 and a little chestnut brown). Animal, mark on throat of red 

 throated diver . . . mineral, iron flint. 



x. BROWNS. 



100. Deep orange-coloured brown (chestnut brown with a 

 little reddish brown and a small quantity of orange brown). 

 Animal, head of pochard; vegetable, female spike of cat's-tail 

 reed . . . 



101. Deep reddish brown (chestnut brown with a little 

 chocolate red). Animal, breast of pochard, neck of teal-drake ; 

 vegetable, dead leaves of green panic grass ; mineral, brown 

 blende. 



102. Umber brown (chestnut brown with a little blackish 

 brown). Animal, moor buzzard ; vegetable, disc of rudbeckia 



103. Chestnut brown, the characteristic colour of the 

 browns of Werner's series (deep reddish brown and yellowish 

 brown). Animal, neck and breast of red grouse; vegetable, 

 chestnut; mineral, Egyptian jasper. 



104. Yellowish brown (chestnut brown mixed with a con- 

 siderable portion of lemon yellow). Animal, light brown 

 spots on the guinea-pig, breast of hoopoe . . . mineral, 

 iron flint and common jasper. 



105. Wood brown (yellowish brown mixed with ash grey). 

 Animal, the common weasel, light part of feathers on back of 

 snipe; vegetable, hazel nuts; mineral, mountain wood. 



106. Liver brown (chestnut brown with a little black and 

 olive green). Middle parts of feathers of hen pheasant and 

 wing coverts of grosbeak. . . . Mineral, semi-opal. 



107. Hair brown (clove brown mixed with ash grey). 

 Animal, head of pin-tail duck. 



108. Broccoli brown (clove brown mixed with ash grey 

 and a small tinge of red). Animal, head of black-headed 

 gull . . . mineral, zircon. 



1 09. Clove brown (ash grey mixed with a little blue red 

 and chestnut brown). Animal, head and neck of male kestril; 

 vegetable, stems of black currant bush ; mineral, surface of 

 rock crystal. 



110. Blackish brown (composed of chestnut brown and 

 black). Animal, stormy petrel, wing coverts of blackcock, 

 forehead of foumart . . . mineral, mineral pitch from 

 Neufchatel, moor coal and bituminous wood. 



The colours which may be thus recognised in the 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, are liable 

 to undergo many changes which appear determined 

 by the influence of light, heat, change of seasons, 

 climate, age, food, soil, and certain chemical actions 

 to which all inert matter is constantly liable. It 

 appears to be a provisionary law that animals, sub- 

 jected to be preyed upon by other animals, assume 

 the colour of the soil or medium by which they are 

 surrounded. Thus rabbits appear of the colour of 

 the soil in which they burrow, arid the colours of the 

 scales of fish vary according to the colour of the river 

 beds over which they swim. It has been shown by 

 an intelligent naturalist that when perch, gudgeon, or 

 minnows, are confined in water, the bottom of which 

 rests upon different coloured soils, the scales of the 

 fish gradually change their colour, and assimilate to 

 that of the soil (Stark, in Jamieson's Journal, vol. ix. 

 p. 329, 1830). A still more remarkable exemplifica- 

 tion of this provisionary law may be observed in the 

 colour of the eggs of birds. Those birds whose nests 

 and eggs are more exposed to the view of their ene- 

 mies than other animals, lay eggs which are of the 

 colour of the objects by which they are surrounded ; 

 thus the partridge, pheasant, and other birds which 

 lay their eggs among grass without any regular nest, 

 present us with eggs of a greenish colour, so that 

 they escape the detection of rapacious birds ; while 

 those which nestle in holes, as the woodpeckers' 

 wrynecks, water ousels, and swifts, present us with eggs 

 of a pure white, which, if exposed, would be immedi- 



ately perceived by their enemies (Ibid, vol. viii. p. 130, 

 1829). The most curious fact, however, which the 

 naturalist observes is the change of colour which 

 plants and animals, under various circumstances, 

 undergo. These too are often of singular contrast ; 

 thus the flower of the blue crocus frequently changes 

 into yellow, the blue columbine to red, the blue violet 

 to white. The changes too during inflorescence are 

 often very remarkable ; thus the flower-buds of the 

 scorpion grass (Myosotis palustris] are delicate rose 

 colour, but they turn to a bright blue as they open. 

 It is well known that the plumage of birds, and the hair 

 of quadrupeds, are subject to remarkable changes of 

 colour, determined obviously by the influence of 

 season, climate, age, food, and other incidental cir- 

 cumstances. As winter approaches, the ptarmigan 

 begins to change colour, and gradually, about the 

 month of February, becomes perfectly white. As the 

 summer, however, returns, black spots appear upon 

 the feathers, which gradually expand into a reddish 

 brown until, in summer, the bird resumes its mottled 

 brownish colour. The change of the human hair from 

 a dark colour to grey or white is a matter of daily obser- 

 vation, and known to be caused by grief, and also by 

 old age. The hair of the unfortunate Louis XVI. of 

 France became quite grey during the night previous 

 to his execution ; so also, on the authority of Madame 

 de Campan, did that of the unfortunate Marie 

 Antoinette the night previous to her unhappy death. 

 And to what are these changes of colour referrible ? 

 the explanation will depend entirely on the theory of 



