Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-08-10
ResemBIanceu among Animals.

There is a general harmony i'm nature
between the cOlOrs of an animal and
those of its habitatiOn. ATtiC animals
are white, desert animals are sand col
Ored dWelleTs among leaves and grass
are green; nOctural animals are dusky.
These COlOrs are not universal, but ara
very general and are seldom reversed.
Going on a little further, we find birds
reptiles and insects, so tinted and mot
tied, as exactly to match the rock, or
bark, or leaf, or flower, they are accus-
toned to rest upOn-and thereby effec-
tUally concealed. Another step in ad-
vance, and we have insects which are
formed, as well as cOlOred so as exactly
to resemble some particular leav-
es, or sticks, or messy twigs, or flowers ;
and in these cases very peculiar habits
and Instincts come into play to aid in
the deception and render the conceal
ment more complete. We now enter
upon a new phase of the phenomena,
and come to creatures whose cOlOrs nei-
ther conceal them nor make them like
vegetable or mineral substances on the
contrary, they are conspicuous enough,
but they completely resemble some 9TH
er creature of quite different group,
while they differ much in outward ap-
peaFance from those with which all es-
seQtial parts of their organization show
them to be really closely allied. They
appear like actors or masqueFaders dres-
sed up and painted for amusement, or
like swindlers, endeavOring to pass
themselves off for Well-knOWn and re-
spectacle members of society.
What is the meaning of this strange
travestie? Does nature descend to i'm
posture or masquerade? ? We answer,
size does not. Her principles are too
severe. There is a use in every detail of
her erhandiwOTk. The resemblance Ofone
animal to another is of exactly the same
essential nature as the resemblance to a
leaf or to bark, or to desert sand, and
answer exactly the same purpose. In
the one case the enemy will not attack
the leaf or the bark, and so the disguise
is a safeguard; in the other case it is
found that the creature resembled
is passed over, and not attacked
by the usual enemies of of its order, and
thus the creature that resembles it, has
an equally effectual safeguard, We are
plainly shown that the disguise is of the
same nature in the two cases, by the
occurrence in the same group of one spe-
Cies resembling a vegetable substance,
while another resembles a living
of another group; and we know that
the creatures resembled, possess an i'm
munity from attack, by their being al
Ways very abundant, by their being con-
spicuOus and not cGpcealing themselves,
and by their having generally no Visi.
bic means of escape from their enemies;
while, at the same time, the particular
quality that makes them dislfked is Of
ten very clear, such as a nasty taste or
an indigestible hardness. Further ex-
animation reveals the fact, thai, ia seF-
eral cases of both kinds of disguise, 1t Is
the female only that is thus disguised
and as it can be shown that the female
needs protection, much more than the
male, and that her preservation for a
much longer period IS absolutely neces-
sary for the continuance of the race, we
have an additional indication that the
resemblance is, in all cases, subservient
60 great purpOse-the preservation of
the species,
In endeavOring TO explain these phen-
Omena as having been brought about
by variation and natural selection, we
start with the fact that white varieties
frequently occur and when protected
from enemies show no incapacity for
continued existence and increase. We
know fqTtneg, that varieties of many
other tipts occasionally dGGIiE; and l'the
survival of the fittest" must inevitable
weed out those whose eOlOrs are pTejudi-
cial, and preserve those whose COlOrs
are a safeguard, we require no other
MODE o. accounting for the protective
tints of arctic and desert animals. But
this being granted, there is such a per
fectly continuous and graduated series
of examples of every kind of protective
limitation, up to the most wonderful
cases Ofwhat is termed 'mimicry,' that
we can find no place at which to draw
the line, and say-sO far variation and
natural selection will account for the
phenomena, but for all the rest we re-
qUire more potent cause. The theO-
ries that have been proposed, that of the
special creation of each initiative form,
that of the action of similar conditions
of existence for some of the cases, and
of the laws of hereditary descent and
the reversal to ancestral forms for other
have all been shown to be beset with
difficulties, and the two latter to be di-
rectly cOntradicted by some of the most
constant and most remarkable of the
facts to be accounted for.
The important part that protective
resemblance has played in determining
the COlOrs and markings of many groups
of animals, will enable us to understand
the meaning of one Of the most striking
facts in nature, the uniformity in the
cOlOrs of the vegetables as compared
with the wonderful diversity of the ami !
NAL world. There appears no good rea-
son why trees and shrubs have not been
with as many varied hues and
as strikingly designed patterns as birds
and butterflies, since the gay cOlors of
an--nra chou LhaE tharn 10 No innnrani- |