[78] Nature, 1870, p. 376.
[79] A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 63.
[80] A beautiful drawing of this rare insect, Hymenopus bicornis (in the nymph or active pupa state), was kindly sent me by Mr. Wood-Mason, Curator of the Indian Museum at Calcutta. A species, very similar to it, inhabits Java, where it is said to resemble a pink orchid. Other Mantidae, of the genus Gongylus, have the anterior part of the thorax dilated and coloured either white, pink, or purple; and they so closely resemble flowers that, according to Mr. Wood-Mason, one of them, having a bright violet-blue prothoracic shield, was found in Pegu by a botanist, and was for a moment mistaken by him for a flower. See Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1878, p. liii.
[81] C. Dixon, in Seebohm's History of British Birds, vol. ii. Introduction, p. xxvi. Many of the other examples here cited are taken from the same valuable work.
[82] See A.H.S. Lucas, in Proceedings of Royal Society of Victoria, 1887, p. 56.
[83] Professor Wm.H. Brewer of Yale College has shown that the white marks or the spots of domesticated animals are rarely symmetrical, but have a tendency to appear more frequently on the left side. This is the case with horses, cattle, dogs, and swine. Among wild animals the skunk varies considerably in the amount of white on the body, and this too was found to be usually greatest on the left side. A close examination of numerous striped or spotted species, as tigers, leopards, jaguars, zebras, etc., showed that the bilateral symmetry was not exact, although the general effect of the two sides was the same. This is precisely what we should expect if the symmetry is not the result of a general law of the organisation, but has been, in part at least, produced and preserved for the useful purpose of recognition by the animal's fellows of the same species, and especially by the sexes and the young. See Proc. of the Am. Ass. for Advancement of Science, vol. xxx. p. 246.
[84] Descent of Man, p. 542.
[85] It may be thought that such extremely conspicuous markings as those of the zebra would be a great danger in a country abounding with lions, leopards, and other beasts of prey; but it is not so. Zebras usually go in bands, and are so swift and wary that they are in little danger during the day. It is in the evening, or on moonlight nights, when they go to drink, that they are chiefly exposed to attack; and Mr. Francis Galton, who has studied these animals in their native haunts, assures me, that in twilight they are not at all conspicuous, the stripes of white and black so merging together into a gray tint that it is very difficult to see them at a little distance. We have here an admirable illustration of how a glaringly conspicuous style of marking for recognition may be so arranged as to become also protective at the time when protection is most needed; and we may also learn how impossible it is for us to decide on the inutility of any kind of coloration without a careful study of the habits of the species in its native country.
[86] The principle of colouring for recognition was, I believe, first stated in my article on "The Colours of Animals and Plants" in Macmillan's Magazine, and more fully in my volume on Tropical Nature. Subsequently Mrs. Barber gave a few examples under the head of "Indicative or Banner Colours," but she applied it to the distinctive colours of the males of birds, which I explain on another principle, though this may assist.
[87] Quoted by Darwin in Descent of Man, p. 317.