THROUGH WATERBERG. 93 



Lycus belonging to a totally different Coleopterous 

 family, and I was completely deceived till I held the 

 insect in my hand. The objections urged against the 

 theory of mimicry are generally based on a total mis- 

 understanding of the theory itself. One frequently 

 listens to arguments against a hypothetical assumption 

 that an insect of its own volition, for protective pur- 

 poses, copies the garb and appearance of an inedible 

 species. Such a wild proposition would require no 

 objection, for it could obtain no support. It is only 

 when one has realized the struggle for existence in all 

 animal life including man himself, has recognized 

 the unbending, inexorable, and universal application of 

 natural laws, appreciated that benevolence is an ac- 

 quired product of the human heart and not of natural 

 life, and observed that all life exists in an iron-bound 

 environment, where strength reigns supreme and the 

 strong taketh by force it is only then one under- 

 stands what Herbert Spencer has so well called the 

 " survival of the fittest," and what Darwin had enabled 

 him thus to see by his enunciation of " Natural Selec- 

 tion." With these facts before us we can comprehend 

 how this " breed " of the persecuted beetle, ever tending 

 by the attacks of its enemies a form of natural selec- 

 tion to perpetuate its race by its more favoured repre- 

 sentatives who were mistaken for inedible species, in 

 the course of time reached in scanty numbers, it may 

 be its zenith in simulative appearance and escaped 

 extinction. These mimicking species are the shadow of 

 a past, when there was a great need and a great 

 danger. 



