Chap. XI. 
BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 
409 
female having retained her primordial colouring only 
slightly changed through the agencies before alluded 
to ; or whether again both sexes have been modified, 
the female for protection and the male for sexual attrac- 
tion, can only be definitely decided when we know the 
life-history of each species. 
Without distinct evidence, I am unwilling to admit 
that a double process of selection has long been going 
on with a multitude of species,— the males having been 
rendered more brilliant by beating their rivals ; and the 
females more dull-coloured by having escaped from their 
enemies. We may take as an instance the common brim- 
stone butterfly (G-onepteryx), which appears early in the 
spring before any other kind. The male of this species 
is of a far more intense yellow than the female, though 
she is almost equally conspicuous ; and in this case it 
does not seem probable that she specially acquired 
her pale tints as a protection, though it is probable 
that the male acquired his bright colours as a sexual 
attraction. The female of Anthocharis cardamines does 
not possess the beautiful orange tips to her wings with 
which the male is ornamented ; consequently she closely 
resembles the white butterflies (Pieris) so common in 
our gardens; but we have no evidence that this resem- 
blance is beneficial. On the contrary, as she resembles 
both sexes of several species of the same genus inhabit- 
ing various quarters of the world, it is more probable 
that she has simply retained to a large extent her 
primordial colours. 
Various facts support the conclusion that with the 
greater number of brilliantly-coloured Lepidoptera, it 
is the male which has been modified ; the two sexes 
having come to differ from each other, or to resemble 
each other, according to which form of inheritance has 
prevailed. Inheritance is governed by so many un- 
