Robinson on Protective Colouring 
by animals are of direct utility to them, 
and are therefore the direct result of natural 
selection; a few would add, ‘and of sexual 
selection.” 
‘“Among the numerous applications of the 
Darwinian theory,” writes Wallace, “in the 
interpretation of the complex phenomena, none 
have been more successful than those which 
deal with the colours of animals and plants.” 
We readily admit that the Darwinian theory 
has thrown a great deal of light on the pheno- 
menon of animal colouration; it has reduced to 
something like order what was before Darwin’s 
time chaos. While admitting this we feel con- 
strained to say that many naturalists, especially 
Dr Wallace and Professor Poulton, have pushed 
the various theories of animal colouration to 
absurd lengths. As Dr H. Robinson truly says 
(Knowledge, January 1909), “It seems to have 
been taken for granted, and some even of 
Dr Wallace’s writings may be interpreted in 
this sense, that protective colouring is necessary 
to the continued existence of every species, and 
that, sexual colouration apart, it is incumbent on 
naturalists to offer ingenious speculations in this 
sense to account for the appearance even of the 
most bizarre and conspicuous beasts. Thence it 
has been but a short step to the announcement 
of those speculations as further evidence in favour 
of natural selection, and of various assumptions 
171 
