3 i6 THE PLACE OF MIMICRY 



by Portschinski. 1 The Russian naturalist considers that 

 this pupa, which he found to be rejected by birds, bears 

 the most detailed resemblance to a chrysalis which has 

 been pecked and seriously injured, but finally abandoned. 



It has been objected that in the case of small unpalat- 

 able animals the individual with Warning Colours is often 

 injured or destroyed by an enemy before it becomes 

 aware of the unpleasant quality or other special defence. 

 But the species benefits by the experience thus gained by 

 an enemy, even though the individual suffers. It is the 

 species which is preserved and advanced by Natural 

 Selection, and when this involves danger to the indivi- 

 dual — as it continually does, the individual must incur 

 the risk. An insect-eating animal does not come into 

 the world with knowledge ; it has to be educated by 

 experience, and Warning Colours ensure that this 

 education is conferred by a small instead of a large waste 

 of life. Nevertheless, the necessary risk to the individual 

 is reduced to the lowest possible level. Great tenacity 

 of life is usually possessed by animals with Warning 

 Colours. The tissues of insects with an Aposematic 

 appearance often possess great elasticity, toughness, and 

 power of resistance, so that large numbers of individuals 

 can recover after very severe treatment. 



i. Experimental Evidence of Special Protection in 

 Forms with Warning Colours. — Apart from the species 

 armed with the sting or poison fang, a large number of 

 conspicuous species have been proved to possess an un- 

 pleasant smell. Dr. Dixey and Dr. Longstaff have made 

 a special point of investigating the scents of living 

 African butterflies, and they find that while the scents 

 confined to the male and presumably employed in court- 

 ship are pleasant to the human sense, those found in both 

 sexes (and when there is a difference more thoroughly 

 developed in the female) are unpleasant to man. Such 

 disagreeable scents were detected in conspicuous butter- 

 flies belonging to the Danainae, Nympkalinae, Acraeinae, 

 and Papilioninae, Dr. Dixey has published several inter- 



1 Lepidoplerorum Rossiae Biologia, St. Petersburg, 1890. 



