240 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



delicate contrasts and subtle harmonies of colour, which 

 are possessed by the more intellectual races of mankind, 

 since even the lower human races do not possess it. All 

 that seems required in the case of animals, is a per- 

 ception of distinctness or contrast of colours ; and the 

 dislike of so many creatures to scarlet may perhaps be 

 due to the rarity of that colour in nature, and to the 

 glaring contrast it offers to the sober greens and browns 

 which form the general clothing of the earth's surface, 

 though it may also have a direct irritating effect on 

 the retina. 



The general view of the subject now given must 

 convince us that, so far from colour being — as it has 

 sometimes been thought to be — unimportant, it is in- 

 timately connected with the very existence of a large 

 proportion of the species of the animal and vegetable 

 worlds. The gay colours of the butterfly and of the 

 alpine flower which it unconsciously fertilizes while 

 seeking for its secreted honey, are each beneficial to its 

 possessor, and have been shown to be dependent on the 

 same class of general laws as those which have deter- 

 mined the form, the structure, and the habits of every 

 living thing. The complex laws and unexpected 

 relations which we have seen to be involved in the 

 production of the special colours of flower, bird, and 

 insect, must give them an additional interest for every 

 thoughtful mind ; while the knowledge that, in all 

 probability, each style of coloration, and sometimes 

 the smallest details, have a meaning and a use, must 

 add a new charm to the study of nature. 



