1 86 Evolution and Adaptation 



wooing ; and in this case we can understand how it is that 

 they have been rendered the more beautiful." 



A most significant fact in connection with the difference 

 in sexual coloration of butterflies did not escape Darwin's 

 attention. 



"Whilst reflecting on the beauty of many butterflies, it 

 occurred to me that some caterpillars were splendidly colored ; 

 and as sexual selection could not possibly have here acted, it 

 appeared rash to attribute the beauty of the mature insect to 

 this agency, unless the bright colors of their larvae could be 

 somehow explained. In the first place, it may be observed 

 that the colors of caterpillars do not stand in any close corre- 

 lation with those of the mature insect. Secondly, their bright 

 colors do not serve in any ordinary manner as a protection. 

 Mr. Bates informs me, as an instance of this, that the most 

 conspicuous caterpillar which he ever beheld (that of a 

 Sphinx) lived on the large green leaves of a tree on the open 

 llanos of South America ; it was about four inches in length, 

 transversely banded with black and yellow, and with its head, 

 legs, and tail of a bright red. Hence it caught the eye of any 

 one who passed by, even at the distance of many yards, and 

 no doubt that of every passing bird." 



Darwin applied to Wallace for a solution of this difficulty, 

 and received the reply that he "thought it probable that con- 

 spicuously colored caterpillars were protected by having a 

 nauseous taste ; but as their skin is extremely tender, and as 

 their intestines readily protrude from a wound, a slight peck 

 from the beak of a bird would be as fatal to them as if they 

 had been devoured. Hence, as Mr. Wallace remarks, 'dis- 

 tastefulness alone would be insufficient to protect a caterpillar 

 unless some outward sign indicated to its would-be destroyer 

 that its prey was a disgusting morsel.' Under these circum- 

 stances it would be highly advantageous to a caterpillar to be 

 instantaneously and certainly recognized as unpalatable by all 

 birds and other animals. Thus the most gaudy colors would 



