Abstract
IN his second letter (NATURE, vol. xi. p. 28) Mr. Mott passes to the discussion of the general question whether beauty is an “object in nature.” On that point my feeling is that our knowledge is as yet far too limited for us to presume to declare with any confidence what is an object in nature. Still less should we venture to assert what is not an object, and least of all have we any right to affirm that beauty is not an object, when we see developed, beauty of form, of colour, of sculpture and marking, so constantly throughout the organic world, and by such a great variety of means. Sometimes beauty of colour undoubtedly exists when, so far as we can see, it confers no benefit whatever on its possessor. Mr. Darwin instances arterial blood and the autumnal tints of leaves. More frequently it is accompanied by some advantage, direct or indirect; and the question is whether in such cases it has been acquired through the operation of sexual or natural selection, more particularly whether in the case of flowers the selection has been effected through the agency of insects, which have favoured the most conspicuously coloured. It remains with Mr. Mott to show in what way the facts detailed in his original letter (I hope he will pardon me for taking him back to it) fail to harmonise with that doctrine. To my mind the fact that a cultivator, by carrying out a like selection, propagating from plants which bear the largest and brightest, double or showy sterile flowers, can produce like results, supports and corroborates the doctrine rather than militates against it. Nor can I see anything discordant in the fact that the colour of fruits has been acquired through the medium of an entirely different selecting agent.
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CUMBER, T. Insects and Colour in Flowers. Nature 11, 47 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/011047a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/011047a0
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