When animals are unpalatable, or when they possess a sting or poison-fangs, it is, to use the words of Wallace, “important that they should not be mistaken for defenceless or eatable species of the same class or order, since in that case they might suffer injury, or even death, before their enemies discovered the danger or the uselessness of the attack. They require some signal or danger-flag which shall serve as a warning to would-be enemies not to attack them, and they have usually obtained this in the form of conspicuous or brilliant colouration, very distinct from the protective tints of the defenceless animals allied to them” (_Darwinism_, page 232). Examples of Warning Colouration For examples of so-called warningly coloured animals, we may refer the reader to Wallace’s _Darwinism_, Poulton’s _Essays on Evolution_, or Beddard’s _Animal Colouration_. An instance familiar to all is our English ladybird. “Ladybirds,” says Wallace, “are another uneatable group, and their conspicuous and singularly spotted bodies serve to distinguish them at a glance from all other beetles.” In order to establish the theory of warning colouration, it is necessary to prove that all, or the great majority of conspicuously-coloured organisms, are either unpalatable or mimic unpalatable forms. If this be so, we are able to understand that the possession of gaudy colouring may be of advantage to the individual. But even if this be satisfactorily proved, we must bear in mind that it does not necessarily follow that these warning colours can be accounted for on the theory of natural selection. For, in order to explain the existence of any organ by the action of natural selection, we must be able to demonstrate the utility, not only of the perfected organ, but of the organ at its very beginning, and at each subsequent stage of development. This, as we shall show, is precisely what the Neo-Darwinians are unable to do. We shall have no difficulty in proving that it would be more advantageous even to a highly nauseous creature to have remained inconspicuously coloured rather than to have gradually become more and more conspicuous. In the first place, let us briefly examine the evidence on which rests the assertion that all gaudily-coloured insects, etc., are unpalatable, or possess stings, or mimic forms which are thus armed. In England wasps, bees, and ladybirds are familiar examples of conspicuous insects. The banded black and yellow pattern of the common wasp and the humble bee are regarded as advertisements or danger signals of the powerful sting. The red-coat with its black spots is similarly believed to be a warning that the ladybird is not fit to be eaten.