COLOURATION
IN
ANIMALS AND PLANTS.
BY THE LATE
ALFRED TYLOR, F.G.S.
Edited by
SYDNEY B. J. SKERTCHLY, F.G.S.,
LATE OF H.M. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ALABASTER, PASSMORE, AND SONS,
FANN STREET, ALDERSGATE STREET, E.C.
1886.
IN MEMORY
OF A FRIENDSHIP OF MANY YEARS,
THIS BOOK
IS
Affectionately Inscribed
TO
THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE YOUNG, P.C.
1885.
PREFACE.
This little book is only a sketch of whatits Author desired it to be, and he never saw the completed manuscript. Beginningwith the fundamental idea that decoration is based upon structure, he saw thatthis was due to the fact that in the lower, transparent, animals, colour isapplied directly to the organs, and that the decoration of opaque animals iscarried out on the same principle—the primitive idea being maintained.Where function changes the pattern alters, where function is localized colouris concentrated: and thus the law of emphasis was evolved. Symmetry was a necessaryconsequence, for like parts were decorated alike, and this symmetry was carriedout in detail apparently for the sake of beauty, as in the spiracular markingsof many larvæ. Hence the reason for recognizing the law of repetition.
With the developing of these ideas the necessity for recognizingsome sort of consciousness even in the lowest forms of life was forcedupon the Author, until inherited memory formed part of his scientificfaith. This he saw dimly years ago, but only clearly when Mr. S.Butler's remarkable "Life and Habit" appeared, and he was gratifiedand strengthened when he found Mr. Romanes adopting that theoryin his "Mental Evolution."
The opening chapters are designedly elementary; for the Author hada wise dread of locking intellectual treasures in those unpickablescientific safes of which "the learned" alone hold keys.
Only a very small portion of the vast array of facts accumulated hasbeen made use of, and the Author was steadily working through the[vi]animal kingdom, seeking exceptions to his laws, but finding none, whendeath closed his patient and far-seeing eyes. A few days before theend he begged me to finish this abstract, for I had been at his sidethrough all his labours.
The work contains his views as clearly as I could express them,though on every page I feel they suffer from want of amplification.But I feared the work might become the expression of my own thoughts,though want of leisure would probably have prevented that unhappyresult. Now it is finished, I would fain write it all ov