XV 
THE VALUE OF COLOUR IN THE STRUGGLE 
FOR LIFE 
By E. B. Poutton. 
Hope Professor of Zoology in the University of Oxford. 
Introduction. 
THE following pages have been written almost entirely from 
the historical stand-point. Their principal object has been to give 
some account of the impressions produced on the mind of Darwin 
and his great compeer Wallace by various difficult problems sug- 
gested by the colours of living nature. In order to render the brief 
summary of Darwin’s thoughts and opinions on the subject in any 
way complete, it was found necessary to say again much that has 
often been said before. No attempt has been made to display as a 
whole the vast contribution of Wallace; but certain of its features 
are incidentally revealed in passages quoted from Darwin’s letters. 
It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the well-known theories 
of Protective Resemblance, Warning Colours, and Mimicry both 
Batesian and Miillerian. It would have been superfluous to explain 
these on the present occasion ; for a far more detailed account than 
could have been attempted in these pages has recently appeared!. 
Among the older records I have made a point of bringing together 
the principal observations scattered through the note-books and 
collections of W. J. Burchell. These have never hitherto found 
a place in any memoir dealing with the significance of the colours of 
animals. 
Incidental Colours. 
Darwin fully recognised that the colours of living beings are not 
necessarily of value as colours, but that they may be an incidental 
result of chemical or physical structure. Thus he wrote to T. Meehan, 
Oct. 9, 1874: “I am glad that you are attending to the colours of 
1 Poulton, Essays on Evolution, Oxford, 1908, pp. 293—382. 
