152 THE METHOD OF DARWIN. 



ones were rejected with signs of distaste- 

 fulness. 



The correlation of brilliant colors and dis- 

 tastefulness was thus anticipated as a conse- 

 quence of natural selection, the principle of 

 protective coloring and the belief that animals 

 so protected by obscure colors are attractive to 

 their enemies. Darwin immediately seized on 

 this result as an opening for further investiga- 

 tions, and said : " This view will, it is probable, 

 be hereafter extended to many animals which 

 are colored in a conspicuous manner." The 

 study of animal coloration under Darwin's 

 principle of natural selection and the subordi- 

 nate principles of mimicry, etc., has been car- 

 ried to such a length, or rather the effort to 

 explain coloration under these and similar prin- 

 ciples has been carried to such a length, that 

 one prominent zoologist has felt justified in 

 characterizing the speculations of recent years 

 on the coloration of animals as a mild form of 

 scientific lunacy. There has been an enormous 

 amount of wild deduction and half-digested 

 observation ; but what is most needed is more 

 light on the physiological causes at work within 

 the animal and producing and determining the 

 distribution of colors. 



It has been mentioned in another place that 



