OF ORNAMENTA TION. 209 



while, with the sole exception of those butterflies 

 known as Swallow-tails (a highly specialized type 

 of low organization), the most variegated and ex- 

 quisite patterns are to be found in the highest 

 families, and are far more generally distributed 

 among them. 



I am not aware that such a direct relation be- 

 tween beauty and rank has been pointed out in 

 other groups of the animal kingdom. There can 

 be no question of its existence here, and in an 

 order of animals at once a synonym for all that is 

 delicate and exquisite it is what should be ex- 

 pected on the theory that the lower represent 

 earlier and the higher later forms developed from 

 a common stock. That complicated or variegated 

 patterns of coloring must have had their source 

 in simpler and less varied designs, and these in 

 slight variations from an absolutely uniform tone 

 of color will not be denied by any who believe in 

 the evolution of complicated structural forms 

 from those of simpler organization ; and must be 

 regarded as possible if not probable by all who 

 study the past life of the globe and see the march 

 of life, with its constant tendencies to differentia- 

 tion, reaching its climax in its latest and most 

 complex product, man. 



It should be borne in mind that, as far as the 

 direct influence of physical agencies is concerned, 

 we are dealing here with a class of acts very dif- 



