CONSCIOUS PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE.
By Guy A.K. Marshall, F.Z.S.
In the second portion of his "Biological Suggestions" (Zool. (1899) pp. 289, 341, 443, 529; (1900) p. 116), Mr. Distant has dealt at some length with the phenomena of animal colouration, generally described under the terms of Protective and Aggressive Resemblance. It is not altogether obvious why these phenomena should have been ranked by him under the term Mimicry. I am aware that this latter word, as first used by Kirby and Spence at the beginning of the century, included all cases of resemblance of what kind soever; but seeing that, with our increasing knowledge of the subject, students of animal colouration have found it both useful and advisable to discriminate between resemblance in order to attract attention (Mimicry) and resemblance in order to obtain concealment (Protective and Aggressive Resemblance), there seems to be no sufficient reason why we should revert to an earlier and less exact definition, which is only apt to cause confusion.(n1) (These numerals refer to some concluding notes by Prof. Poulton.) In his review of the matter, Mr. Distant has brought together a large number of interesting facts and observations bearing on the subject of general and special resemblance (a distinction, however, which he overlooks), containing examples from all classes of animal life. A consideration of these facts has led him to offer the suggestion that "animals of their own volition, and in their efforts to avoid their enemies, place themselves where possible in such adaptation to their surroundings, that protective resemblance and some forms of mimicry are due to animal intelligence, and not so entirely to what is generally understood as the unconscious process of natural selection" (l.c. 1899, p. 465). It is proposed to designate this conscious action by the somewhat unsatisfactory name of "active mimicry";[1] it seems doubtful whether any special name is really required for this process, but, if it be so, I would suggest that "conscious resemblance" is more suitable and more in conformity with the recognised terminology.[2]
