16 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 



on the other, inconspicuous. The form, 

 colour, and habits of the animal may be such 

 that it is seldom or never found among sur- 

 roundings which render it inconspicuous ; or 

 its form, colour, and habits may produce the 

 opposite effect ; unfortunately our knowledge 

 of the habits of animals is so small (possibly 

 because our attention has been chiefly con- 

 centrated on the study of their other charac- 

 ters) that we are usually unable to decide 

 whether the observed position in Nature of 

 an animal is conspicuous or inconspicuous, 

 the result of accident or purpose. 



Further analysis of this method will not 

 be gone into, especially as it must again be 

 frequently referred to when dealing with 

 other methods. 



Form. By form, animals can be and are 

 more readily recognised than by any other 

 attribute ; in fact, it is by the amount of 

 space they occupy that we know them. There 

 are, no doubt, species which are more easily 

 distinguished from closely allied species by 

 colour or some other character, because they 

 are alike in form and size ; but the mind, 

 unconsciously, first places them according to 

 their form. 



A wasp is recognised, first by its shape, 



