Protective coloration

“ There is one other point regarding the protection afforded by colour to large mammals against carnivorous foes which I think has not been sufficiently considered by naturalists, and that is, that no matter how well the colour of an animal may harmonise with its surroundings as long as it remains perfectly still, as soon as it moves "it jumps to the eyes," as the French say, no matter what its colour may be. What is called protective coloration to be effective must be motionless. Movement, even very slight movement, at once destroys its efficacy. ”

“ But, under such conditions, the colour of one's skin becomes more or less of a luxury. Protective pigment, at any rate now-a-days, counts for little as compared with capacity for social service. Colour, in short, is rapidly losing its vital function. ”

“ They seem to me to lend an immense support to my view of the great importance of protection in determining colour, for it has not only prevented the eatable species from ever acquiring bright colours, spots, or markings injurious to them, but it has also conferred on all the nauseous species distinguishing marks to render their uneatableness more protective to them than it would otherwise be. ”

“ Thayer asserts that the phenomenon is a striking example of protective colouration. The fact that a bird or mammal is darker in hue above than below renders it less conspicuous than it would be were it coloured alike all over, since the pale under parts tend to counteract the effects of light and shade. ”

“ These six bright colours, when used in conjunction with black and white, with each other, or with their complementaries, will strengthen, intensify and enrich each other without altering their true value—when such vivid effects and sharp contrasts offend the taste of the worker, when they appear too crude, too conspicuous and too obtrusive—which they are apt to do—they may be harmonised quite simply, either by modifying the complementaries or by using a tint or a shade, that is, a lighter or a darker tone of the same colour. ”

“ The colours of these cells blend with that of the blood, thus producing, according to their number and depth of coloration, the brunette, black, yellow, or red complexion. The palm of the negro’s hand is whiter than the rest of his body, because there the horny epidermis is so thick that the black pigmentary matter cannot be seen through it. And the reason why every negro is born to blush unseen is because the pigmentary matter in his skin is so deep and abundant that it neutralises the colour of the blood. ”

“ Colors which harmonize with each other by analogy, reduce each other's brilliancy to a greater or less degree, as white and yellow, blue and purple, black and brown.
The various shades of purple and lilac, dark blues and dark greens, lose much of their brilliancy by gaslight, while orange, scarlet, crimson, the light browns and light greens, gain brilliancy by a strong artificial light. ”

“ These plants, however, seem to have developed no prominent warning colours as understood by the theory; while their protection is undoubtedly real and efficient. The theory of warning colours is a brilliant suggestion, but one which seems to demand of nature an unnecessary effort to supplement protective qualities already sufficient. ”

“ Colours which "come off" should be avoided, as, even if they do not come in contact with the skin, particles of them enter the body with the breath, and if the dye is poisonous they act injuriously in that way. ”

“ Nothing so nearly approaches pure white as the palest blue; nothing is so nearly black as the darkest.
Green has been assigned by nature the place of the universal background. It is the complementary colour of red, softening and assimilating it by reflected shadows, and setting off the glory of every flower and fruit. The expression of green is gaiety and modesty, light and tenderness, shadow and repose, to both the eye and the mind. ”

“ The reason is, that in him the pigment allows the slightest differences in the afflux of blood to the dermis to be perceived. With the Negro as with us, the blood has its share in the colouring, the tint of which it deepens or modifies. ”

“ The broader stretches of color are furthermore relieved and softened by the sprinkling of countless ideographs over draperies and shop-signs—black, (and sometimes red) against white; white or [231] gold on blue. Strong yellows, greens, oranges, purples are invisible. In dress also greys and cool blues rule: when you do happen to see robes or hakama all of one brilliant color,—worn by children or young girls,—that color is either a sky-blue, or a violet with only just enough red in it to kindle the azure,—a rainbow-violet of exquisite luminosity. ”

“ Hence the judicious artist purveys for his palette at least two pigments of each colour, one eminent for delicate beauty, the other for richness and depth.
Truth of hue is a relative quality in all colours, except the extreme primaries, in the relations of which, blue, being of nearest affinity to black or shade, has properly but one other relation, in which it inclines to red and becomes purple-blue: it is, therefore, faulty or false, when, tending to yellow, it becomes of a green hue. ”

“ In many animals, but especially among invertebrates, colouring matters or pigments play an important rôle in surface coloration; in some cases such coloration may be of benefit to the animal, but in others the integument simply serves as an organ for the excretion of waste pigmentary substances. ”

“ As an artist's color, it replaces almost all the other red pigments which we have inherited from the past. The same chemists have an equally powerful yellow and blue under careful observation, and it is highly probable that in another year or two these, also, will be given to the world. Now it is evident that if painters can secure these three primary colors in two values, a light and a dark shade, they will, with the addition of white and black, have a perfect palette ”

“ They can whiten any colour by mixing White with it, and darken any colour by mixing Black, or some dark and dirty colour. And in a word, most of the colours, or colour’d bodies they use in Limning and Painting, are such, as though mixt with any other of their colours, they preserve their own hue, and by being in such very smal parts dispers’d through the other colour’d bodies, they both, or altogether represent to the eye a compositum of all ”

“ In fair individuals with blue eyes and a pink and white skin, the pigment seemed to be entirely wanting. In individuals with a brown skin, black hair, and a very dark iris, “not only the brain enveloped by its membranes assumes a deeper shade, but a layer of black matter, in every way comparable to that of the Negro, covers the protuberance, the pineal gland, and some other points of the nervous centres.” ”

“ They display so many different colour-shades on their bodies that an artist would be delighted with the effect. From that peculiar milky hue which, by reason of some pigment, contrives to resist the rays, the tints diverge; the reds, the scarcer group, traversing every gradation from pale rose to the ruddiest of copper--not excluding that strange marbled complexion concerning which I cannot make up my mind whether it be a beauty or a defect; while the xanthous tones, the yellows, pass through silvery gold and apricot and café au lait to a duskiness approaching that of the negro. ”

“ From a Dye Book of 1705.—"Black may be compared to Night and Death, not only because all other colours are deepened and buried in the Black Dye, but that as Death puts an end to all Evils of Life, tis necessary that the Black Dye should remedy the faults of other colours, which have been occasioned by the deficiency of the Dyer or the Dye, or the change of Fashion according to the times and caprice of man." ”

“ Though in the paintings of animals and birds considerable realism is often seen (fig. 7) , yet for human figures certain conventional colours are employed, e.g. white for females' flesh, red for the males, or black to indicate people of negro race. Heads are painted in profile, and little or no shading is used. Considerable knowledge of harmony is shown in the arrangement of the colours; and otherwise harsh combinations of tints are softened and brought into keeping by thin separating lines of white or yellow. ”

“ A like deposit of pigment, in greater amounts, in the skins of races who live in or near the tropics, gives rise to the characteristic coloring of the black, brown, and yellow races. The pigment, or coloring matter, is of exactly the same kind in all, from the negro to the white. The brown race having a little less of it than the negro, the yellow race a little less yet, and the white least of all, though there is some of it in even the whitest of skins. ”

“ We must expect, then, in painting, to find that neutral gray will be more altered by pale tints of red, orange, or yellow, which are slightly lighter than itself, and that the gray will be less altered by these colors when differing considerably from it in luminosity; analogous conclusions with regard to green, blue, violet, and purple, can also be drawn. Saturated or intense colors in a painting have less effect on white or gray than colors that are pale; this was shown in the preliminary experiment when gray was placed on a ground of strong color. ”

“ Warning Coloration and Mimicry
The colors of a great many animals, including a considerable percentage of American butterflies and their larvae, have been commonly explained by the theory of warning colors. According to this theory animals which [Pg 34] were for any reason not edible by birds and mammals have developed various striking combinations of color such as black and yellow, red and black, or black and white, in order to advertise to their foes their inedible qualities. ”

“ It must have a perfectly clear skin, and a decided color or tint, whether white, pink, creamy, gray, brown or black. If white, it must not have a cloud or a blur or haze, nor should the skin have the slightest appearance of being opaque or dead. It must be absolutely free from all cracks, scratches, spots, flaws, indentations, shadowy reflections or blemishes of any kind. It must possess the peculiar luster or orient characteristic of the gem. The skin must be unbroken, and not show any evidence of having been polished. ”

“ When toned with black its sombre qualities are intensified, particularly that coldness and aloofness which makes it the recognized official colour for formality and duty. It is by no means a sociable member, and care has to be exercised in bringing it into combination with other colours in a fabric, special regard having to be given to its strength and intensity which in many cases give rise to hardness of colour effect and displeasing results in colour harmony. ”

“ A prepared permanent black dye, from antimony. This is used with hair-pencils to the circle of the eye at the root of the eye-lashes by the Native ladies and often by gentlemen, and is deemed both of service to the sight and an ornament to the person. It certainly gives the appearance of large eyes, if there can be any beauty in altering the natural countenance, which is an absurd idea, in my opinion. Nature is perfect in all her works ”

“ The Three Primitive Colours, by the endless varieties of their solvents, regulate, more or less, the whole economy of a picture; and the abundant stores of nature are faithfully imitated by their agency. Thus, the Primitives being red, blue, and yellow, the colours produced by their combination are purple, orange, and green; these, in their turn, may be extended to every tint that exists. The junction of the Three Primitives absorb all, and form neutral tint, which, by the addition of quantity, produces black. ”

“ Custom has prescribed that on these occasions the colour of the victim shall be black, as an emblem of the wished-for rain-clouds. But if fine weather is wanted, the victim must be white, without a spot. ”

“ This is because it is what the geneticist calls a recessive character. A man may have a color-blind father and still not transmit the defect. But a color-blind woman, married to a color-blinded man, transmits the defect to all off-springs, both sons and daughters.
ALTERING COLOR To brighten color, add yellow; to give it warmth, add red. To brighten and warm, add orange. To deepen and cool, add blue. To cool and lighten, add green; to deepen and warm, add purple.
Ultramarine blue contains sulphur and will tarnish with admixtures of pigment containing lead. Substitute zinc white. ”

“ Theory of Typical Colours.—The remaining kinds of animal colours, those which can neither be classed as protective, warning, or sexual, are for the most part readily explained on the general principles of the development of colour which we have now laid down. It is a most suggestive fact, that, in cases where colour is required only as a warning, as among the uneatable caterpillars, we find, not one or two glaring tints only, but every kind of colour disposed in elegant patterns, and exhibiting almost as much variety and beauty as among insects and birds. ”

“ The tint of the skin, of course, is largely a racial indication, but in certain respects, the tint, as well as the texture, is an index of health and vigor. The standard of beauty in complexion, whether light or dark, is that which goes with the full bloom of sexual vigor, when the human organism is at its perfect development for the perpetuation of the species. ”

“ Broken Colors.—Gray colors, often improperly called broken tints. For simplicity, a tint of a color is described as the pure color mixed with white and a shade as the color mixed with black, and the corresponding broken color is the same color mixed with both white and black or with neutral gray. A tint of a color thrown into a shadow or a shade of a color in bright sunlight gives a broken color. For various reasons a very large proportion of the colors in nature are broken. ”