HOW COLOUR PROTECTS ITS VOTARIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 656, 1 April 1914, Page 7

HOW COLOUR PROTECTS ITS VOTARIES.

INSECTS AND THEIR ENEMIES. Ons of the theories c.f Darwin is that in the competition for existence which must result from the inadequacy of space and food for all, certain individuals are by virtue of their characteristics better fitted to survive under then existing conditions than others. Writing on this subject, Dr. J. Arthur Harris tells of the results of experiments with certain insects of the class which are coloured by nature like the plants on which they live., called in biology protective colour. Altogether 110 insects, 45 green and 65 brown, were secured. The insects of the species live on green grass, and the brown ones on grass which has been dried by the si/n. Twenty green insects were/ placed on green plants and twentyfive cn brown plants. Twenty; brown insects were placed on brown and forty-five on green plants. The experiment began on August 15tli, and observaions were made daily for seventeen days. Of the forty individuals exposed on vegetation of similar colour every one survived throughout the entire experiment. All the green individuals exposed on browa grass were killed in eleven days ; «f the forty-five brown individuals exposed on green grass ten survived to September Ist., whsn a severe gale destroyed the experiment. Most of the insects that failed to survive were destroyed by birds, although a few ware killed by ants."" Dr. Harris offers this as further evidence that colour lias a real protective value in cases where individuals of a species are in their natural environment.