OF ORNAMENT A TION. 225 



not until the minute examination which this re- 

 quired had forced it upon me that I learned how 

 subservient is ornamentation to the requirements 

 of structure, or how much reflex light was thrown 

 by mere color patterns upon the very plan of 

 structure itself. 



In all that has been said I have only attempted 

 to trace the probable lines along which ornamen- 

 tation increased in complexity. Causes I have 

 purposely left in the background, although I 

 have here and there intimated that I do not be- 

 lieve change is wholly due either to the action of 

 physical agencies or to natural selection. That 

 each of these forces has borne its part in the 

 work, there can, I think, be little doubt ; but in 

 a case like this, where we find beauty of the most 

 exquisite and refined character in creatures of an 

 inherently low organization, I can only express a 

 deep-seated conviction that a preordaining pur- 

 pose and plan governs these proximate causes, 

 and that beneath both structure and beauty we 

 may discern far-reaching and controlling thought. , 



