ADAPTATION FOR THE INDIVIDUAL 109 
escaping attention, far more common and widespread 
throughout the animal world. The eye does not eas- 
ily see an object if it is colored like the background 
against which it stands. <A host of animals find their 
main safety in being indistinguishable in color from 
the surface on which they live. There are many biolo- 
gists who seriously question whether protective colora- 
tion, as Darwin called it, is as effective as he believed 
it. In some quarters it is the present fashion to doubt 
protective coloration entirely. No one has yet shown 
any principles which will better explain the great color 
scheme of the animal world, and until such explana- 
tion is forthcoming I believe it will not be wise for us 
to discard the idea of protective coloration. No doubt 
it has been overworked by enthusiastic believers in its 
efficiency. At the same time, to overlook it com- 
pletely, is, I believe, to make a greater error. I have 
little doubt that when the broader explanation comes, 
which will satisfactorily explain the color scheme of 
the animal world, the idea of protective coloration 
will be found, not so much to have been wrong, as to 
have been but partial. It will be included under the 
broader principle which takes its place and will not be 
supplanted by it. 
The idea of protective coloration is that very many 
animals have ordinarily come to be colored like the 
background on which they live. The process has 
