ASSIMILATIVE COLOURATION. 381 
than that of arterial blood; but there is no reason to suppose 
that the colour of the blood is in itself any advantage; and - 
though it adds to the beauty of the maiden’s cheek, no one will 
pretend that it has been acquired for this purpose.” * 
All our present knowledge of animal colouration is derived 
from motive; show us a practical use for the same in the 
creature’s life, either in “protective and aggressive resemblance 
or mimicry,” or in warning or nuptial colours, and the same is 
at once found to dovetail in that marvellous intellectual con- 
ception of this our time, so well known as Darwinism. But 
let the purpose be unknown, as is the general rule,—though 
probably no form exists in nature but is the outcome of use, 
now, or once,—and explanation reaches the standard of pure and 
scant hypothesis, scarcely to be avoided under the limitations of 
our present knowledge, nor to be condemned in the absence of 
experimental test. Poulton has advanced the proposition that 
the bright hue of many Sea Anemones may be explained under 
the term and theory of “ warning colours,” + and that—based on 
experiments made by Garstang—the tentacles of Sea Anemones 
were distasteful to fish.{ But we learn from McIntosh and 
Masterman that “it is a well-known fact that adult Cod are 
extremely fond of Sea Anemones, and some of the rarest species 
may be procured in their stomachs;’’ also that Sea Anemones 
are a favourite bait for Cod in some parts of Scotland.§ Darwin 
has pointed out how colour and constitutional peculiarities go 
together, and he learned from Prof. Wyman that in Virginia the 
Pigs were all black because they “‘ate the paint-root (Lacnanthes), 
which coloured their bones pink, and which caused the hoofs of 
all but the black varieties to drop off.” || Superabundant vigour 
in the male sex often produces excess or rather extra-development 
in colour, ‘as a cock Brambling will occasionally assume a black 
throat, or a cock Sparrow a chestnut breast, or a Rose Pastor a 
a reddish head.” {] Although colours in fruits and plants have — 
In many cases an equally important function as in animals for 
* Descent of Man,’ 2nd edit., p. 261. 
+ ‘The Colours of Animals,’ p. 166. + Ibid. p. 200. 
§ ‘The Life-histories of British Marine Food-fishes,’ p. 38. 
|| ‘ Origin of Species,’ 6th edit., p. 9. 
WJ. H. Gurney, ‘ Zoologist,’ 3rd ser., vol. xviii. p. 295. 
