NATURAL SELECTION AND TELEOLOGY 101 



study of Natural History is the revival of Teleology. The 

 evolutionist studies the purpose or meaning of organs with 

 the zeal of the older Teleology, but with far wider and more 

 coherent purpose.' 1 



PROTECTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE RESEMBLANCE: 

 PROCRYPTIC AND ANTICRYPTIC COLOURING 



Colouring for the purpose of concealment is 

 sometimes included under the head Mimicry, a 

 classification adopted by H. W. Bates in his 

 classical paper. Such an arrangement is incon- 

 venient, and I have followed Wallace in keeping 

 the two categories distinct. 



The visible colours of animals are far more 

 commonly adapted for Protective Kesemblance 

 than for any other purpose. The concealment of 

 animals by their colours, shapes and attitudes, 

 must have been well known from the period at 

 which human beings first began to take an intel- 

 ligent interest in Nature. An interesting early 

 record is that of Samuel Felton, F.R.S., who 

 (Dec. 2, 1763) figured and gave some account of 

 an Acridian (Phyltotettix) from Jamaica. Of this 

 insect he says l tlie thorax is like a leaf that is 

 raised perpendicularly from the body '. 2 



Both Protective and Aggressive Resemblances 

 were appreciated and clearly explained by 

 Erasmus Darwin in 1794 : * The colours of 

 many animals seem adapted to their purposes 



1 Life and Letters, iii. 255. 



1 Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. t liv. Tab. vi. 55. 



