<H' iy 



such .1- the Myriapo. : enlal repeti 1 >pots 



or pigmented areas which mark either important ftdditei C 

 alt at hii icnt-. On the abdomen, of ii, , here M-L' mentation is best 



Observed, color appear- as well defined, M'-mentallx pots, 



l)ut on the th Mentation i> obscured an<l 1M upon the head. Of 



what import a in e. t lien is pigmentation " And how did it ari-e ~ J \ 

 oMtngenctic stairs offer any haul's for phylogenetic generali/at ioi. 

 may conclude thai cuticula color originated in emmet lion with the 

 hardening of the integument of the ancestral tract., i ry to 



nuscular activity of terrestrial life-. The primitive colors were 

 yellows, browns and blacks, corresponding well with the surroundings 

 in which the first terrestrial insects are supposed to have lived. The 

 color pattern was a segmental one, showing repetition of the same spots 

 upon -iicccssive segments, as upon the abdomen of Coleoptera. 



> firmly have these characters become ingrained in the tracheate 



. and so important is this relation of the hardening of the cuticula 

 to the musculature and to the formation of body sclerites, that even the 

 most specialized forms show this primitive system of coloration; and, 

 although there may be spots and markings which have no connection 

 with it, still the chief color areas are thus closely associated." 



Development of Color Patterns. Although the causes of colora- 

 tion are, for the most part, obscure, it is possible, nevertheless, to point 

 out certain paths along which coloration appears to have developed. 



e paths ha-ve been determined by the comparison of color patterns 

 in kindred groups of insects and the study of colorational variations in 

 adults of the same species. Butterflies, moths and beetles have 

 naturally been preferred as subjects by most students. 



The most primitive colors among moths are uniform dull yellows, 



OS and drabs the same colors that the pupal blood assumes when 

 it is dried in the air. These simple colors prevail on the hind wings of 

 most moths and on the less exposed parts of the wings of highly colored 

 butterflies. The hind wings of moths are, as a rule, more primitively 

 colored than the front ones because, as Scudder says, "all differentiation 

 in coloring has been greatly retarded by their almost universal conceal- 

 ment by day beneath the overlapping front wings." Exceptions to 

 this statement are found in Geometridae and such other moths as rest 

 with all the wings spread. "In such hind wings we find that the sim- 



departure from uniformity consists in a deepening of the tint next 



uter margin of the wing; next we have an intensification of the 

 deeper tint along a line parallel to the margin; it is but a step from this 



