Animal Coloration: An Account of the Principal Facts and Theories Relating to the Colours and Markings of Animals |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abundant action of natural animals annelid appear bees belonging birds blue bright colours brilliant colours brown butterflies caterpillar cause caves change of colour chlorophyll colour change colour resemblances Colours of Animals common conspicuous creatures crustacean eaten enemies environment example experiments explanation fact fauna feathers feed female fish flowers frogs genera genus green colour habit Hawk moth Heliconidæ Hymenoptera insects instance Lacerta large number larva larvæ leaf Lepidoptera Leptalis light lizard longitudinal striping Magpie male mammals marked mimicking natural selection naturalists nudibranchs observations pelagic perhaps pigment plants polyps Poulton prey probably produced Prof protective coloration protective resemblance pupa remarkable Seitz sexes sexual dimorphism sexual selection similar skin snakes species specimen spider spots sting suggestion supposed theory of mimicry theory of warning tints tion toad tree viridis Wallace warning colours wasps Weismann wings winter woodpecker worm yellow Zool Zoological
Popular passages
Page 105 - ... bud at the end of a twig; besides which, it often exhibits intermediate tubercles which increase the resemblance. Its colour too is usually obscure, and similar to that of the bark of a tree. So that, doubtless, the sparrows and other birds are frequently deceived by this manoeuvre, and thus baulked of their prey. Rosel's gardener, mistaking one of these caterpillars for a dead twig, started back in great alarm when upon attempting to break it off he found it was a living animal.
Page 58 - ... its movements. The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four feet long: I have seen a large one which weighed twenty pounds.
Page 57 - It is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements. The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four feet long...
Page 281 - ... in every other respect ; while, if they do so coincide, then any selection of ornament is altogether superfluous. If the most brightly coloured and fullest plumaged males are not the most healthy and vigorous, have not the best instincts for the proper construction and concealment of the nest, and for the care and protection of the young, they are certainly not the fittest, and will not survive, or be the parents of survivors.
Page 207 - The extraordinary perfection of these mimetic resemblances is most wonderful. I have heard this urged as a reason for believing that they could not have been produced by natural selection, because a much less degree of resemblance would have protected the mimetic species. To this it may be answered, that natural selection not only tends to pick out and preserve the forms that have protective resemblances, but to increase the perceptions of the predatory species of insects and birds, so that there...
Page 58 - ... was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava, which everywhere form the coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with outstretched legs.
Page 58 - When in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail — the legs being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman on board sank one with a heavy weight attached to it, thinking thus to kill it directly ; but when, an hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava which everywhere form the coast...
Page 58 - The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four feet long: I have seen a large one which weighed twenty pounds. On the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size than on any other. These lizards were occasionally seen some hundred yards from the shore swimming about; and Captain Collnett, in his Voyage, says, 'they go out to sea in shoals to fish'.
Page 207 - ... the swifter preserved. Then the slowest-running dogs .would suffer, and, having less food than the fleeter ones, would have least chance of living, and the swiftest dogs would be preserved ; thus the fleetness of both dogs and hares would be gradually but surely perfected by natural selection, until the greatest speed was reached that it was possible for them to attain. I have in this supposed example confined myself to the question of speed alone, but, in reality, other means of pursuit and...
Page 51 - May, 1871, the moths developed out of the cocoons (which had spent the winter in Switzerland), and resembled entirely the Texan species. Their young were fed on leaves of Juglans regia (the Texan form feeding on Juglans nigra), and they changed into moths so different, not only in colour, but also in form, from their parents, that they were reckoned by entomologists as a distinct species."* Professor Mivart also reminds us that English oysters transported to the Mediterranean are recorded by M.