Abstract
THIS interesting and suggestive work deals with the whole question of colour in nature, and more especially with its manifestations in the organic world anc the complex colour reactions between plants and animals It traces the origin of the colour sense in insects to their visits to primeval flowers in order to feed upon the pollen and in birds to their seeking for fruits, whose seeds they dispersed and whose colours were developed to attract them. It thus attempts to show that the very existence of most of the brilliant colours of the organic world is due to the influence of the colour sense in animals. The author adopts, with some reservations, Mr. Darwin's theory of sexual selection to account for the colours oi most animals, and he endeavours to show that only those groups display beautiful colours in which a taste for colour has been aroused by the influence of flowers, fruits, or brilliant insects, their habitual food. All these subjects are treated in a very thorough manner, with a wealth of illustration, a clearness of style, and a cogency of reasoning, which make up a most attractive volume; and though we may not agree with all the author's conclusions, and may even doubt the accuracy of some of his facts, we cannot but admit that he has placed the whole subject before us in a way that must engage the attention both of the man of science and the general reader. We will now proceed to give an outline of the whole work, dwelling here and there on the more interesting points, and especially on those where we venture to differ from the conclusions arrived at.
The Colour Sense: its Origin and Development. An Essay in Comparative Psychology.
By Grant Allen (London: Trübner and Co., 1879.)
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WALLACE, A. The Colour Sense: its Origin and Development An Essay in Comparative Psychology . Nature 19, 501–505 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019501a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019501a0
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