MIMICRY. 311 



among insects and other living creatures which we seek in vain 

 to explain by observed attack, and consequently cannot prove 

 the present need of protection. These disguises are often like 

 remains of old earthworks which we find on our peaceful downs ; 

 reminiscences of past struggles, records that such did once exist. 

 And thus tbe suggestion is forced upon us that much present 

 mimicry in nature is obsolete, more to be studied and explained 

 by a zoological archaeologist than by an outdoor observer, and 

 accounts for the frequent remarks made from time to time to the 

 writer by candid and competent naturalists abroad, that so much 

 convincing theory at home receives little support when nature is 

 cross-examined in her tropical and sub-tropical fastnesses. 



In a book written by a popular writer, the late Prof. Henry 

 Drummond, and which must have been read largely by the general 

 public, for before us is the fourth edition of ' Tropical Africa,' 

 which is described as " completing twenty-fifth thousand," there 

 is a chapter devoted to " Mimicry ; the ways of African insects."* 

 "Protective resemblance" would perhaps have been a more ap- 

 plicable title to the phenomena considered than " mimicry," f 

 which the author defines as "imposture in nature. " But the 

 peculiarity in this chapter is that the author, after agreeing in the 

 fullest manner with the usual conception of the term "mimicry," 

 as held by most biologists, and stating that " mimicry depends on 

 resemblances between an animal and some other object in its en- 

 vironment of which it is a practical gain to the creature to be a more 

 or less accurate copy, "J appears to altogether explain away that 

 conclusion by the subsequent remark that, "while in some animals 

 the disguises tend to become more and more perfect, the faculties 

 for penetrating them in other animals must continually increase 



* Gordon Cumming as early as 1850 drew attention to " mimicry" or 

 " protective resemblance " among insects. He did not use the terms, but 

 clearly described the facts. ' Five Years' Hunting Adventures in South 

 Africa' (Compl. Pop. Edit.), p. 132. 



f This word is now becoming not uncommon in general literature, and 

 its original meaning — at least as used in biology — will tend to become 

 obscured. Thus Max Nordau writes of " the religious mimicry of the French 

 bourgeoisie, which was to make them resemble the old nobility " ('Degenera- 

 tion,' p. 113). 



J ' Tropical Africa,' 4th edit. p. 162. 



