Thus D. Dewar writes (_Albany Review_, 1907): “Eight years of bird-watching in India have convinced me that, so far as the struggle for existence is concerned, it matters not to a bird whether it be conspicuously or inconspicuously coloured, that it is not the necessity for protection against raptorial foes which determines the colouring of a species; in short, that the theory of protective colouration has but little application to the fowls of the air.” Similarly, F. C. Selous writes, on page 13 of _African Nature Notes and Reminiscences_: “Having spent many years of my life in the constant pursuit of African game, I have certainly been afforded opportunities such as have been enjoyed by but few civilised men of becoming intimately acquainted with the habits and life-history of many species of animals living in that continent, and all that I have learned during my long experience as a hunter compels me to doubt the correctness of the now very generally accepted theories that all the wonderfully diversified colours of animals—the stripes of the zebra, the blotched coat of the giraffe, the spots of the bushbuck, the white face and the rump of the bontebok, to mention only a few—have been coloured either as means of protection from enemies or for the purpose of mutual recognition by animals of the same species in times of sudden alarm.” So also G. A. B. Dewar—a very close observer of nature in England—writes, in _The Faery Year_: “Few theories in natural history have received more attention of late years than protective or aggressive colour, ‘mimicry,’ and harmony with environment. . . . To doubt this use of colour to animals seems like inviting back chaos in place of cosmos—for abandon the theory, and a world of colour is straightway void of purpose, a muddle of chance. So we all like the theory. Some, however, perceive plans to aid the wearer in every colour, tint, shade, and pattern. We may be sceptical of a good many of the cases they cite in support of colour aid, though attracted by the main idea.” Writing of the commoner British butterflies, he says: “After a little practice, any man furnished with good eyesight can easily distinguish these butterflies—blues, coppers, small heaths, and meadow browns—from their perches; and so we may be sure that the small beast, bird, or insect of prey, with sense of colour or form, could also distinguish them. . . . Quite often, without even searching for them, I can see cabbage whites and other butterflies asleep on perches to which they by no means assimilate.” Mr G. A. B. Dewar suggests that the safety of the resting butterfly lies in “the position, the couch on high, . . . not the mask of colour or marking.” Gadow on Coral Snakes Two short visits to Southern Mexico sufficed to show Dr Hans Gadow that some of the commonly accepted explanations of colour phenomena are not the correct ones.