Mimicry Among Animals 



this strange travesty ? Docs nature descend 

 to imposture or masquerade? We answer, she 

 does not. Her principles are too severe. There 

 is a use in every detail of her handiwork. The 

 resemblance of one animal to another is of 

 exactly the same essential nature as the resem- 

 blance to a leaf, or to bark, or to desert sand, 

 and answers exactly the same purpose. In the 

 one case the enemy will not attack the leaf or 

 the bark, and so the disguise is a safeguard; 

 in the other case it is found that for \arious 

 reasons the creature resembled is passed over, 

 and not attacked by the usual enemies of its 

 order, and thus the creature that resembles it 

 has an equally effectual safeguard. We are 

 plainly shown that the disguise is of the same 

 nature in the two cases, by the occurrence in 

 the same group of one species resembling a 

 vegetable substance, while another resembles 

 a living animal of another group; and we know 

 that the creatures resembled possess an im- 

 munity from attack, by their being always very 

 abundant, by their being conspicuous and not 

 concealing themselves, and by their having 

 generally no visible means of escape from their 

 enemies; while, at the same time, the particular 

 quality that makes them disliked is often very 

 clear, such as a nasty taste or an indigestible 

 hardness. Further examination reveals the fact 

 that, in several cases of both kinds of disguise, 

 it is the female only that is thus disguised; 

 and as it can be shown that the female needs 

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