408 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



and it is not credible that their difference in color should 

 stand in anj relation to ordinary protection. Prof. Weis- 

 mann remarks" that the female of one of the Lycsense ex- 

 pands her brown wings when she settles on the ground, and 

 is then almost invisible; the male, on the other hand, as if 

 ^aware of the danger incurred from the bright blue of the 

 upper surface of his wings, rests with them closed; and this 

 shows that the blue color cannot be in any way protective. 

 Nevertheless, it is probable that conspicuous colors are in- 

 directly beneficial to many species, as a warning that they 

 are unpalatable. For in certain other cases beauty has 

 been gained through the imitation of other beautiful spe- 

 cies, which inhabit the same district and enjoy an immu- 

 nity from attack by being in some way offensive to their 

 enemies; but then we have to account for the beauty of 

 the'imitated species. 



As Mr. Walsh has remarked to me, the females of our 

 orange-tip butterfly, above referred to, and of an American 

 species {Anth. genutia), probably show us the primordial 

 colors of the parent- species of the genus; for both sexes of 

 four or five widely distributed species are colored in nearly 

 the same manner. As in several previous cases, we may 

 here infer that it is the males of Anth. cardamines and 

 genutia which have departed from the usual type of the 

 genus. In the Anth. sara from California, the orange-tips 

 to the wings have been partially developed in the female; 

 but they are paler than in the male, and slightly different 

 in some other respects. In an allied Indian form, the Iphias 

 glaucippe, the orange-tips are fully developed in both sexes. 

 In this Iphias, as pointed out to me by Mr. A. Butler, the 

 under surface of the wings marvellously resembles a pale- 

 colored leaf; and in our English orange-tip, the under 

 surface resembles the flower-head of the wild parsley, on 

 which the butterfly often rests at night. " The same reason 



» "Einfiuss der Isolirung auf die Artbildung," 1872, p. 58. 

 '» See the interesting observations by Mr. T. W. Wood, "The Student," 

 Sept. 1868, p. 81. 



