198 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL ch. viii 



larvae of tlie Swallow-tailed butterfly in chip boxes, where 

 they changed into chrysalids ; but, strange to say, instead 

 of being green or dusky, as they usually are, they were of 

 exactly the same colour as the inside of the box, without 

 any marking whatever. Some of them produced very fine 

 butterflies, which shows that they were healthy.^ 



These curious facts prove that we have yet much to 

 learn as to the causes which determine the colours of 

 animals, and it is to be wished that a few of our young 

 naturalists would experiment on some of our commonest 

 insects, rearing them from the egg exposed to the influence 

 of differently coloured objects and carefully registering 

 the result. In this chapter I have only desired to call 

 attention to some curious facts in the colouring of insects^ 

 and more especially to the disguises which serve to protect 

 them from their enemies, or enable them more easily to 

 entrap their prey. Such of my readers as may wish to 

 know more of this subject, and may desire to learn how 

 these strange modifications of form and colour have prob- 

 ably arisen, are referred to Chapter III. of my Nahiral 

 Selection and Trounced Nature, in which the most recent 

 views of Mr. Darwin's disciples are fully explained. 



^ Since the present chapter was written this subject has been well 

 investigated by Prof, E. B. Poulton and other entomologists. See his 

 book on The Colours of Animals, Chaps. VIII. and IX. , .; 



