The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-09

start OF his enemy, would often not
get that start if his coloring were so
conspicuous that his enemy could
steal upon him unawares; nor would
the strength of the lion avail him
much if he were to be assailed from
behind
And in the case of the lion incon-
sp1cuous coloriNg is absolutely essen
tial to enable him to creep up on his
prey unobserved; his speed would be
quite inadequate to procure his daily
food.
Some animals, notably the zebra
and the giraffe, seem to first thought
to upsetsour theories about defensive
coloring, and to be with their Stripes
and spots self-advertised game for
every flesh-eating beast of the forest
But Nature always knows what she
is about; and the answer to this diff
ficulty is that from the height of the
creeping lions or tigers eye, three to
four feet nearer the ground than our
own, the variegated hides of these
animals blend very confusingly in
with the branches and shadows and
sunbeams of the woods, and conceal
their owners as effectively as the uni
form mud-coIor does the founder.
The leopard also has a spotted
hide; but he needs it for offensive
purposes, to lie concealed on the limb
of a tree until the unsuspecting prey,
swifter than himself, shall pass near
enough beneath to be within reach
of a sudden spring.
1t would be hard to find any ami
NAL which does not owe it's safety in
part to offensive or defensive color
ing; but there are some examples in
II, \ i
other kind.
The possum, when he sees an enc
my approaching is seized by ner-
vous attack resembling epilepsy, in
which he becomes motionless and
rigid, SO that his enemy either over
looks him or considers him too dead
to be good for much.
And the toucan, whose enormous
beak looks grotesquely out of. proper
ton to the rest of his body has but
to stick his beak out of his hole in
the tree to convince his enemy that
he had better tackle. something a lit
tie nearer his own size. Neither of
these creatures knows what it is that
saves his life; if he did, we should
have to acknowledge in him an intel
ligence not SO far short of mans; but
Nature knows that he inherits a hab-
it which has been a protection to
thousands of his ancestors, and is still
effective.
More interesting than the clever
defensive coloring given by nature is
the manner in which she gave it; and
this is explained when we look into
the history of the various animals
1t is evident enough that if while
resting upon a limb or a tWig a but
fnr-fIx oh
enemy would see it and put an end
to it's existence. Accordingly in the
past, only those butterflies were
slightly less conspicuous than the rest
of their kind had a fair chance of
escaping from the birds.
These Insects propagated their
kind. who inherited the Characters
tics of their parents; and thus an ad-
vantage in the struggle for existence
began. AS time and generations went
on, the determining fact in this sur
vival of the fittest'' was the degree
in which any Individual possessed in
conspicuous coloring or shape; all
those least favored by inheritance
were prey for the birds.
Through countless generations this
differentiation went on. until now we
may see in museums and collections
butterflies which when at rest look
so much like a dead leaf that it is
hard to believe they are not such,
until one uses the magnifying glass.
And the same laws of inheritance
and survival has determined the col
oring Of all the other beasts, birds
and insects.
AS if for a confederation of our
theories, strange condition exists
among certain butterflies in South
America. A large number of GER
tain shape. size and coloring, all, alike
according to appearances, but actual
Iy divided into two kinds, as differ
emit structurally an horse is from a