240 DARWIN'S LETTERS TO R. TRIMEN 



smell. We have, however, no right to conclude that 

 what may be unpleasant to us is not to them a sweet- 

 smelling royal unction. May not all the imitators of 

 these scented aristocrats be simply votaries of fashion, 

 apeing the dress of their superiors, and, since the females 

 take the lead, " naturally selecting " those of the gayest 

 colours ? ' 



Hewitson in the first part of the above para- 

 graph assumes that the liquid is considered to 

 be offensive to tJie insects tJiemselves, whereas of 

 course it is believed to protect against insect-eating 

 animals. In the last part I do not think he uses 

 the word * naturally ' when he means ' sexually ', 

 for the sake of the little play upon the former 

 word. I think by the words * females take the 

 lead ' Hewitson refers to the greater prevalence 

 and perfection of female Mimicry, and that he 

 only intended to convey the facetious suggestion 

 of conscious and deliberate imitation. 



To return to Trimen's paper, it is hardly 

 surprising that a memoir containing such novel 

 and startling conclusions should have been heard 

 by a hostile audience, and my friend tells me 

 that ' Darwin's congratulations were of immense 

 comfort, as the large meeting was. for by far 

 the greater part opposed and discouraging'. 

 Darwin's keen interest in Bates's paper has 

 been shown on pp. 123-6, the part he took in 

 encouraging Fritz Miiller in his successive amend- 

 ments of the Batesian Hypothesis, on pp. 126-9 ; 

 but the following letter is the first evidence I 



