Such examples of mimicry belong to what is known as the “Batesian
type”--so called after H. W. Bates, who, in 1861, discussed its
occurrence among Amazonian insects in the light of the theory of
natural selection. There are, however, certain groups of insects
which, although themselves “protected,” possess common warning
colours, causing them to resemble each other. These are sometimes
classed under the head of “Müllerian mimicry”--so called after Fritz
Müller, who, in 1879, first offered an explanation of the facts
based on the theory of natural selection. He suggested that such
mutual resemblance is advantageous to both protected forms, since it
lessens the number of those which are killed by young birds and other
animals while they are learning by experience what to eat and what
to leave. For, as the result of careful observation, Mr. Frank Finn
concludes “that each bird has to separately acquire its experience,
and well remembers what it has learnt,”--a conclusion with which, as
already stated, my own observations are entirely in accord. There is
therefore a certain amount of destruction of even well-protected forms
by young and inexperienced birds. If, then, two such forms resemble
each other, the acquisition of experience is thereby facilitated and
the amount of destruction reduced, on the assumption that the two
fall within the same generic image. Upholders of natural selection
are not, indeed, at one in accepting this explanation, and further
observation is unquestionably needed. It is not improbable, however,
that common protective coloration, such as the banding of yellow and
black, seen in such different forms as the caterpillar of the cinnabar
moth and the imago of the wasp, is of mutual utility. The following
experiment was made with young chicks. Strips of orange and black paper
were pasted beneath glass slips, and on them meal moistened with
quinine was placed. On other plain slips meal moistened with water
was provided. The young birds soon learnt to avoid the bitter meal,
and then would not touch plain meal if it were offered on the banded
slip. And these birds, save in two instances, refused to touch cinnabar
caterpillars, which were new to their experience. They did not, like
other birds, have to learn by particular trials that these caterpillars
are unpleasant. Their experience had already been gained through the
banded glass slips; or so it seemed. I have also found that young birds
who had learnt to avoid cinnabar caterpillars left wasps untouched.
Such observations must be repeated and extended. But they seem to show
that one aspect of the Müllerian theory is not without some facts in
support of it; and, so far as they go, they afford evidence that black
and orange banding, irrespective of particular form, may constitute a
guiding generic feature in the conscious situation.
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