to him
in the course of his investigations regarding the coloring of
butterflies. Mimicry, as our readers are well aware, consists in this,
that living beings imitate other organisms or even inanimate objects;
Darwinism maintains that this is done for the sake of protection
against enemies. This phenomenon is said to have been produced by
selection. Those animals that possessed, for instance, some similarity
to a leaf, in consequence escaped their enemies more easily than others
and survived, while those that had no leaf-like appearance succumbed;
when this process had been repeated a few times, many animals
(butterflies) gradually developed that marvelous leaf-like appearance,
which frequently deceives the most practiced eye.

It appears so simple and natural that one need not wonder that this
peculiar phenomenon gained many an adherent for Darwinism. But, of
course, it is directly opposed to the views of Eimer; and it is for
this reason that he endeavors so assiduously to disprove the error of
Darwinism in this regard. As the underlying color design of the
butterfly Eimer designates eleven longitudinal designs; and the
examination of the leaf-like forms leads him to the conclusion, that
their appearance always depends on "the unaltered condition or the
greater prominence of certain parts of this fundamental design." There
is to be observed a shifting of the third band, so that in conjunction
with the fourth, which is curved, it forms the mid-rib of the leaf.
Eimer finds the cause of this phenomenon in the alteration of the form.
The leaf-like form results from an acumination and elongation of the
wings, which in turn results from a marked elongation of the rim of the
fore-wing. And this again is produced by the proportionately greater
growth of one part of the wing-section than of the others.

With reference to the reason of this growth it is of importance to note
that experiments, consisting in the application of artificial heat to
the chrysales of the swallow-tail and sailor-butterfly, demonstrated
that by this means "the fore-wing is drawn out more toward the outer
wing-vein, and the rim of the fore-wing becomes more elongated and
curved." It is observed, however, that the natural heat-forms of the
same genera and species, namely, the summer-forms and those which live
in the warm southern climate, exhibit, for instance, in the case of
butterflies akin to the sailor, the same features, the elongation and
more mar