124 THE VALUE OF COLOUR 



semblances ! You will make quite a new subject of it. I had 

 thought of such cases as a difficulty ; and once, when corre- 

 sponding with Dr. Collingwood, I thought of your explanation ; 

 but I drove it from my mind, for I felt that I had not 

 knowledge to judge one way or the other. Dr. C., I think, 

 states that the mimetic forms inhabit the same country, but 

 I did not know whether to believe him. What wonderful 

 cases yours seem to be I' 1 



The above passage will probably be as great 

 a surprise to other naturalists as it was to the 

 present writer. It would be very interesting to 

 know whether Collingwood published any state- 

 ments on the subject. His book, 2 quoted by 

 Darwin in the Descent of Man, is dated 1868. 



Bates read his paper before the Linnean 

 Society, Nov. 21, 1861, and Darwin's impressions 

 on hearing it were conveyed in a letter to the 

 author dated Dec. 3 : 



' Under a general point of view, I am quite convinced 

 (Hooker and Huxley took the same view some months ago) 

 that a philosophic view of nature can solely be driven into 

 naturalists by treating special subjects as you have done. 

 Under a special point of view, I think you have solved one 

 of the most perplexing problems which could be given to 

 solve. ' 3 



The memoir appeared in the following year, 

 and after reading it Darwin wrote as follows, 

 Nov. 20, 1862 :- 



' . . . In my opinion it is one of the most remarkable and 

 admirable papers I ever read in my life. ... I am rejoiced 



1 The letter is dated Sept. 25, 1861. More Letters, i. 197. 

 8 C. Collingwood, Rambles of a Naturalist on the shores and 

 waters of the China Seas, London, 1868. 

 3 Life and Letters, ii. 378. 



