Mimesis

“ Admirable mimics have nothing of their own. In every kind of parasite, when Nature has finished an aphis, a teredo, or a vampire bat,—an excellent sucking-pipe to tap another animal, or a mistletoe or dodder among plants,—the self-supplying organs wither and dwindle, as being superfluous. In common prudence there is an early limit to this leaning on an original. In literature quotation is good only when the writer whom I follow goes my way, and, being better mounted than I, gives me a cast, as we say; but if I like the gay equipage so well as to go out of my road, I had better have gone afoot. ”

“ There is a distinct family resemblance among the bulk of the Dismorphias, including practically all the mimetic forms, and on the whole the resemblances between the imitative and the non-imitative forms are as noteworthy as the differences. Though not exhibited in so striking a fashion, the same is to a large extent true of a large proportion of the cases of mimicry. It is on the whole unusual to find cases where a single species departs widely from the pattern scheme of the other members of the genus and at the same time resembles an unrelated species. ”

“ Although the extraordinary phenomena of mimicry are now pretty generally known to science, few workers have yet had the opportunity of studying them in nature. But no study in natural history depends more upon observation in the field; for while in the case of a few mimetic forms—the Heliconidæ, for example—the imitated form is also an insect, and the two specimens may be laid side by side in the cabinet at home, the great majority of mimetic insects are imitations of objects in the environment which cannot be brought into comparison with them in the drawers of a museum. ”

“ Such is the first step in the making of a mimicry case—the building up through natural selection of a conspicuous pattern in an unpalatable species by means of which it is enabled to advertise its disagreeable properties effectively and thereby secure immunity from the attacks of enemies which are able to appreciate the advertisement. Such patterns and colours are said to be of a "warning" nature. The existence of an unpalatable model in considerable numbers is the first step in the production of a mimetic resemblance through the agency of natural selection. ”

“ We have indeed two or three mimics; but one above all—a chorus-singer, a great man, who can strike off an imitation which is life itself; a drunken, dissolute fellow, monsieur, or he would have taken to principal characters and made himself a name. A fellow with a soul for nothing but dominoes and vulgar wine-shops; but a wonderful mimic."
"Ah! and he imitates, I suppose, all your great people—your prima donna, your basso, your tenor—" hazards Monsieur Raymond Marolles. ”

“ We can only report that these insects are mimics one of another as seen in our cabinets, and that as nothing is, or can be, predicated as purposeless in nature, neither can these assimilative forms be meaningless; and, further, arguing from demonstrated knowledge in other cases of mimicry being protective, the presumptive evidence is that the theory of protection affords the clue to the origin of the mimetic guise of these insects. ”

“ An important phenomenon connected with insect mimicry is the convergence of several species in the same area towards a common type of coloration and shape, exhibited by one or more than one protected form. The resemblance shows various grades of completeness; and the convergent mimics may be themselves noxious, or edible and innocuous. In other words the insects entering into the combination may furnish instances of Batesian and of Müllerian mimicry. ”

“ The theory of mimicry demands that butterflies should have enemies, and further that those enemies should exercise a certain discrimination in their attacks. They must be sufficiently observant to notice the difference between the mimetic and the non-mimetic form ”

“ Hence it is probable that when the human species shall have been freed from the miasms which now undermine its vitality, the simple flowers on the fields will be sufficient to control the remaining indispositions. Whereas we, unfortunate heirs of the chronic miasms of all ages, lepra, scrofula, syphilis and a host of other subtle plagues, are compelled to employ the most frightful agents in order to meet the intensity of our diseases. ”

“ On the theory of mimicry all the members of both of these groups must be regarded as specially protected owing to their conspicuous coloration and distasteful properties. What advantage then can an Ithomiine be supposed to gain by mimicking a Heliconine, or vice versâ? Why should a species exchange its own bright and conspicuous warning pattern for one which is neither brighter nor more conspicuous? To Fritz Müller, the well-known correspondent of Darwin, belongs the credit of having suggested a way out of the difficulty. Müller's explanation turns upon the education of birds. ”

“ Are the resemblances of the mimics to the models when alive so close that they might be expected to deceive such enemies [5] as prey upon them and have no difficulty in distinguishing the male form of polytes from P. aristolochiae or P. hector?
To answer for a bird is a hazardous undertaking. We know so little of the bird's perceptive faculties whether of taste or sight. ”

“ Origin of Species, 6th Edition, 1891, p. 354.
[33] H. misippus was at one time regarded as a clear case of Batesian mimicry. But in view of its plentifulness, of the fact that it may be abundant outside the area inhabited by its model, and of the ease with which it can establish itself in parts remote from its original habitat, e.g. S. America, it has come to be regarded by certain supporters of the mimicry theory as a Müllerian mimic. Cf. Poulton, Essays on Evolution, 1908, pp. ”

“ That the imitators are always less numerous in individuals. 4. That the imitators differ from the bulk of their allies. 5. That the imitation, however minute, is external and visible only, never extending to internal characters or to such as do not affect the external appearance. These five characteristic features of mimicry show us that it is really an exceptional form of protective resemblance. Different species in the same group of organisms may obtain protection in different ways: some by a general resemblance to their environment ”

“ And so in nature at large; all are not masters of the game, and the mimicking species have a general immunity from attack, save from those incontestable creatures who amongst all animal life, including our own, levy their own rates, successfully collect their own tithe, and command the attention, if not always the love, of their fellows. Animal disguise and mimicry serve an ever purpose, if they do not constitute a constant end ”

“ This progressive mimicry would be more valuable than an imitation in which no changes occurred, since the enemies of a mimetic species would in time become aware of a fraud which had no variations at its command, as birds are said now-a-days to pounce without hesitation upon caterpillars which very much resemble twigs67. Even ‘a rough imitation’ may be useful in the first instance, and yet when hostile eyes have long been exercised, and have acquired greater and greater sharpness, finally nothing less than absolute identity of appearance may be thoroughly effective. ”

“ Every instinct of self-preservation moved him to fall back. The same instinct moved him to keep his own eyes fixed upon that dull, penetrating, fiend-like stare as he did so. What on earth was the thing? he asked himself. A reptile? No; for the eyes were larger than those of the largest serpent known to zoology. Human? No; not that either. He was conscious of a ghastly chilling of the blood within him as he met that horrible stare fixed upon him within the mysterious darkness of the bush screen. ”

“ It does not bring about the likeness, neither does it accentuate it: it brings about the survival of those forms which happen to shew the likeness. Why variations on the part of one species should bear a strong resemblance to other, and often distantly related, species is another question altogether.
Even a superficial survey of the facts makes it evident that cases of mimicry tend to run in series—that a closely related series of mimics, though often of very different pattern and colour, tends to resemble a closely related series of models. ”

“ He Briefly Shows, Moreover, What Ridiculous, Obscene, and Cruel Rites Were Observed in Celebrating the Mysteries of Certain Gods.
“How much more truly do dumb animals naturally judge concerning your gods? Mice, swallows, kites, know that they have no feeling: they gnaw them, they trample on them, they sit upon them; and unless you drive them off, they build their nests in the very mouth of your god. Spiders, indeed, weave their webs over his face, and suspend their threads from his very head. You wipe, cleanse, scrape, and you protect and fear those whom you make ”

“ Protective mimicry as it occurs in animals may be the simulation in form or color, or both, of natural objects, or it may be the simulation of the form and color of another animal, which for some reason enjoys immunity from the attacks of species which ordinarily prey upon its kind. ”

“ The enormous vegetable and animal accumulations of such a multitude, living more like brutes than men, produced a continual miasma, which prepared the constitutions of thousands for any infection which might chance to light among them. Pestilence is, in fact, the rude and dreadful remedy which nature provides for the human misery which man himself can not or will not cure. ”

“ This is not a matter of ridicule, but a sample of very real and acute suffering to which many persons are subject by fear-panics due to various causes.
Many women scream with terror at the sight of a mouse. There is no use telling them that mice will not hurt them. So doing, you are addressing their reason, while 93 the trouble lies not in their intelligence—it is a nervous disease. They scare just as a horse shies at a newspaper flapping in the wind. ”

“ When we further realize that in this and other examples of mimicry “the likeness is almost always detailed and remarkable, however it is attained, while the methods differ absolutely,” we recognize that natural selection is the only possible explanation hitherto suggested. In the cases of aggressive mimicry an animal resembles some object which is attractive to its prey. Examples are found in the flower-like species of Mantis, which attract the insects on which they feed. ”

“ The production of mimicry in an individual animal has no more to do with consciousness or “taking thought” than any of the other processes of growth. Protective mimicry is here defined as an advantageous and superficial resemblance of one animal to another, which latter is specially defended so as to be disliked or feared by the majority of enemies of the groups to which both belong—a resemblance which appeals to the sense of sight, sometimes to that of hearing, and rarely to smell, but does not extend to deep-seated characters except when the superficial likeness is affected by them. ”

“ Mimicry, which is treated under another chapter, comes under the head of passive defence, and form and colour play an important part in it. Strangely enough, animals which have never resorted to mimicry as a means of protection, when associated with others who practice it, take on the habit themselves. ”

“ It gives at once a "dangerous" look to the insect when settled, even at a distance of several yards, and this although one may be perfectly familiar with its harmless nature. The mimics on the other hand with their sombre-coloured bodies never look otherwise than the inoffensive creatures that they are. The "dangerous" look due to the brilliant scarlet of the body and head of hector and aristolochiae is reinforced by the quality of the red on the markings of the wings. ”

“ YET to satisfie any inquisitive Person how this primary Affection of the Stomach does arise, and through what Passages the pestilential Poison makes its Entrance, it is to be observed, that nothing is more plain than that the pestilential Miasmata not only enter at the larger Passages, but also through the Pores of the Skin, even to the whole nervous System, from whence they are communicated to all other Parts ”

“ The bosom, most delicate thing in nature, with its innermost vessels forming a matchless flower, becomes, through its injective and congestive tendencies, the most perfect instrument for causing pain. Sharp, ruthless, restless are the pains she suffers. Gladly would she accept all kinds of poison. Instead of bargaining with the Witch, she only puts her poor hard breast between her hands. ”

“ These warning colorations have been evolved through the Natural Selection of fortuitous useful color variations in the ancestors during the Geologic Ages.
Plate VI.—Illustrating Warning Coloration (Elaps) and especially Mimicry (Erythrolamprus) . Elaps is a very poisonous reptile and Erythrolamprus is harmless. Reproduced (and modified) from Romanes’s “Darwin and after Darwin.” By courtesy of the Open Court Publishing Company.
Mimicry. Protective resemblance of a harmless animal to another of a different species that is harmful is known as mimicry. ”

“ And not ourselves only, but all nature, alas! becomes demoniac. If there is a devil in the flower, how much more in the gloomy forest! The light we think [25] so pure teems with children of the night. The heavens themselves—O blasphemy!—are full of hell. That divine morning star, whose glorious beams not seldom lightened a Socrates, an Archimedes, a Plato, what is it now become? A devil, the archfiend Lucifer. In the eventime again it is the devil Venus who draws me into temptation by her light so soft and mild. ”