16 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 
on the other, inconspicuous. The form, 
colour, and habits of the animal may be such 
that it is seldom or never found among sur- 
roundings which render it inconspicuous ; or 
its form, colour, and habits may produce the 
opposite effect ; unfortunately our knowledge 
of the habits of animals is so small (possibly 
because our attention has been chiefly con- 
centrated on the study of their other charac- 
ters) that we are usually unable to decide 
whether the observed position in Nature of 
an animal is conspicuous or inconspicuous, 
the result of accident or purpose. 
Further analysis of this method will not 
be gone into, especially as it must again be 
frequently referred to when dealing with 
other methods. 
Form.—By form, animals can be and are 
more readily recognised than by any other 
attribute; in fact, it is by the amount of 
space they occupy that we know them. There 
are, no doubt, species which are more easily 
distinguished from closely allied species by 
colour or some other character, because they 
are alike in form and size; but the mind, 
unconsciously, first places them according to 
their form. 
A wasp is recognised, first by its shape, 
