82 Animal Life and Intelligence, 



When the weaker are preyed upon by the stronger and a 

 fair fight is out of the question, the slow and heavy succumb, 

 the agile and swift escape ; stupidity means elimination, 

 cunning, survival ; to be conspicuous, unless it be for some 

 nasty or deleterious quality, is inevitably to court death : 

 the sober-hued stand at an advantage. In these cases, if 

 there be true selection at work, it is the selection of certain 

 individuals, the plumpest and most toothsome to wit, for 

 destruction, not for survival. 



This mode of elimination has been a factor in the 

 development of protective resemblance and so-called 

 mimicry, and we may conveniently illustrate it by reference 

 to these qualities. If the hue of a creature varies in the 

 direction of resemblance to the normal surroundings, it will 

 render the animal less conspicuous, and therefore less liable 

 to be eliminated by enemies. This is well seen in the 

 larvae or caterpillars of many of our butterflies and moths. 

 It is not easy to distinguish the caterpillar of the clouded 

 yellow, so closely does its colour assimilate to the clover 

 leaves on which it feeds, nor that of the Lulworth skipper 

 on blades of grass. I would beg every visitor to the 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington to look 

 through the drawers containing our British butterflies and 

 moths and their larvae, in the further room on the base- 

 ment, behind the inspiring statue of Charles Darwin. Half 

 an hour's inspection will serve to bring home the fact of 

 protective resemblance better than many words. 



It may, however, be remarked that not all the cater- 

 pillars exhibit protective resemblance; and it may be 

 asked — How have some of these conspicuous larvae, that of 

 the magpie moth, for example, escaped elimination ? What 

 is sauce for the Lulworth goose should be sauce for the 

 magpie gander. How is it that these gaudy and variable 

 caterpillars, cream-coloured with orange and black mark- 

 ings, have escaped speedy destruction ? Because they are 

 so nasty. No bird, or lizard, or frog, or spider would touch 

 them. They can therefore afford to be bright-coloured. 

 Nay, their very gaudiness is an advantage, and saves them 



