86 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



facts showing that variations of this character, so 

 favorable to the individuals, are preserved and perpetu- 

 ated, while those which are devoured, failing to have 

 the favorable variations, are not perpetuated. They 

 are fine examples of the way in which natural selection 

 operates. 



Color has entered largely into the action of natural 

 selection, in protective resemblance, warning colors, 

 and mimicry. In contrast with the facts, above set 

 forth, regarding the protective features, by which cer- 

 tain animals, whose color prevented them from attract- 

 ing those which prey upon them, the colors of flowers, 

 on the other hand, are the means of attracting to them, 

 those insects necessary to their fertilization. It seems, 

 for instance, that the red clover would die out if it 

 were not kept fertilized by the bumble bee. 



The rattlesnake of the mountains and plains, is al- 

 most exactly the color of the ground. The lion, and 

 the tiger have adaptive colors, which not only protect 

 them, but enable them to approach their prey with 

 more security. A very wonderful example of pro- 

 tective coloring and form, is given by Professor E. B. 

 Wilson of a mollusk living on floating seaweed sar- 

 gassum. A piece of sargassum had been in a glass jar 

 in the laboratory for sometime, and no one had noticed 

 the mollusk attached to it. Someone looking closely 

 at the sargassum, exclaimed "why the sea weed is mov- 

 ing its leaves." The fact was disclosed by a closer 

 examination. The animal was about two inches long. 



Mr. Bates, a collector of butterflies for eleven years, 

 was frequently deceived by a Leptalis, which imitated 

 the flock of Ithomia with which it mingled. When he 

 caught specimens of each, supposing from the external 

 resemblance that they were the same, he found them to 

 be very different in essential structure. 



