520 MR. TRIMKN ON MIMETIC ANALOGIES AMONG AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



by wearing the aspect, respectively, of three prevalent species of Danais ; while the 

 \kidagn-<arene Pt>i>ilio Merione*, so closely allied to JP. Merope as to be regarded bv 

 most author- 8 merely a local race of the latter, presents but one form of female not 



IK 



1 



antly differ iu 4 from the male. 

 Such results as these, confirmitig and supplementing, as they do, the similar series of 

 fai observed by l\ v. Bates in Equatorial America, as well as those tabulated by Mr. 

 Wallace in reference to India and the Malayan archipelago, are of the deepest signi- 

 ficance. Inexplicable as they must ever remain when regarded on the theory of the 

 ind pend I creation of all organic beings precisely as we now behold them, they become 



•ly intelligible when viewed as the natural consequences of the innate variability of 



•s, and t he preservation and development by inheritance, through all time and under 



e> «»f surrounding conditions, of every successive variation advantageous to the 



> 



organism originating it. In the infinitely complicated "struggle for life," any advan- 

 t l-, however slight, inevitably has its effect; and the individuals possessing it will not 

 onlj hold their ground to the exclusion of less fortunate competitors, but will transmit 

 th« precious quality to some at least of their descendants. The process by which natural 

 selection gradually effects those innumerable protective resemblances of which these 



I!'" ' "" " nalo 8 iea imo »* bntterflies form but a small portion, has been so ably traced by 



rah 1 naturalists, that it is unnecessary for me to attempt what could at best be 

 1-tn, , >i arguments already adduced; but I may be permitted, in conclusion, 

 ; "x-pr ** m conviction of the harmonious relation in which the theory of the mutu- 

 al" ind gram ,1 origin f species stands in regard to what is now universally admitted 

 n-spectii 5 inoi ,ntc nature. Ko one disputes, at the present day, that the crust of the 

 art li naa undergone profound changes both structurally and chemically; but who is 



" *!?""!!;"' S lng t0 aCC ° lmt f ° r theSe mutat ^ on the exploded theory of vast 



n ..... ~ — . _ ... general cataclysms? It is conceded on all hands that the 



but a 



of nature 



i. nA ,„ n r i . ^ ° v/vjjliucucu uu ciix lianas iirai uic 



Z2L7' u'n ■*?? * *°* Under ° Ur ^ es are sufficie "t. * the lapse of ages, to 

 aoeoen. fo all the past changes, however stupendous, of which the records remain; but, 



it s,,a„ ? , mconsisteney, any suggestion of gradual ehange in the incomparably 



n ' IT 7 ° rSaniC W ° rld " t0 ° ° ftel1 re J ected *** -credulity or disdain; 



1 , ' 77 Ml C '" ' t0 the theor y of succ ™ whosesale destructions 



■„• t ,r 7 T^* f ° r th ° ° Xtinct or S anisms -sealed by paleontology. 



cor , Wc (7 % ° P rcclicted *at the day is not far distant when such di, 



n ,. z . i , : ;;:7"' be unknown in the -« ™^ for the p^ «*> 



P' 00 ';;;' 1 '. '•-■•-mcreasing force, that the famous axiom mtnra no« Jhoit 



truth ot universal amiliraiin^ ..j il.i ,, .. ..„ „ 



the p,v,ent from tW Z ■ « ' PP '° n ' and that M is as impossible to sever the life of 

 and 2 Z!Zn fir! "*** ** " t0 ****» a *«*» **"» *» P«~ * 



