Ill 
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES AMONG ANIMALS 
53 
appear at first to be a source of danger to its possessor may 
really be a means of protection. Many showy and weak- 
flying butterflies have a very broad expanse of wing, as in the 
brilliant blue Morphos of Brazilian forests, and the large 
Eastern Papilios ; yet these groups are tolerably plentiful. 
Now, specimens of these butterflies are often captured with 
pierced and broken wings, as if they had been seized by birds 
from whom they had escaped; but if the wings had been 
much smaller in proportion to the body, it seems probable 
that the insect would be more frequently struck or pierced in 
a vital part, and thus the increased expanse of the wings may 
have been indirectly beneficial. 
In other cases the capacity of increase in a species is so 
great that however many of the perfect insect may be de- 
stroyed, there is always ample means for the continuance of 
the race. Many of the flesh-flies, gnats, ants, palm-tree 
weevils, and locusts are in this category. The whole family 
of Cetoniadse or rose chafers, so full of gaily-coloured species, 
are probably saved from attack by a combination of char- 
acters. They fly very rapidly with a zigzag or waving 
course ; they hide themselves the moment they alight, either 
in the corolla of flowers, or in rotten wood, or in cracks and 
hollows of trees, and they are generally encased in a very 
hard and polished coat of mail, which may render them un- 
satisfactory food to such birds as would be able to capture 
them. The causes which lead to the development of colour 
have been here able to act unchecked, and we see the result 
in a large variety of the most gorgeously-coloured insects. 
Here, then, with our very imperfect knowledge of the 
life-history of animals, we are able to see that there are 
widely varied modes by which they may obtain protection 
from their enemies or concealment from their prey. Some of 
these seem to be so complete and effectual as to answer all the 
wants of the race, and lead to the maintenance of the largest 
possible population. When this is the case, we can well under- 
stand that no further protection derived from a modification 
of colour can be of the slightest use, and the most brilliant 
hues may be developed without any prejudicial effect upon 
the species. On some of the laws that determine the de- 
velopment of colour something may be said presently. It is 
