WARNING COLORATION
It has been noticed that many dangerous and distasteful insects are rendered conspicuous by their brilliant colors, and examples of this so-called warning coloration are not lacking among the butterflies. The Swallowtail caterpillars, which produce a very disagreeable odor, are usually marked by two great staring eye-spots on the back of the thorax. Some of the protected butterflies, such as the ill-smelling Zebra and Red Silverwing, are extraordinarily conspicuous by reason of striking color-combinations. Many entomologists believe that these peculiar color-schemes have been developed by protected butterflies as an advertisement of their inedible character. This view is not as popular as it used to be, but there may be something in it; it certainly seems to explain the structure and habits of some of the higher animals—the rattlesnake for example—better than any other hypothesis yet advanced.