Animal coloration : an account of the principal facts and theories relating to the colours and markings of animals / by Frank E. Beddard.

  • Beddard Frank E. (Frank Evers), 1858-1925.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animal coloration : an account of the principal facts and theories relating to the colours and markings of animals / by Frank E. Beddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    —♦— CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.—THE PRINCIPAL FACTS OF ANIMAL COLORATION. We must clearly distinguish at the outset between Colour and Coloration : the two terms are frequently confused, but they are obviously by no means synonymous. By colours we understand the actual tints (blue, green, red, etc.) which are found in animals ; by coloration, the arrangement or pattern of these tints. In certain cases the two expressions colour and coloration may be practically synonymous, may coincide : in a perfectly green caterjjillar it is only necessary to mention the colour ; but in the vast majority of cases the colours are more than one, and have therefore a certain arrangement: there is thus a coloration. The Colours of Animals. The colours of animals are due either solely to the presence of definite pigments in the skin, or, in the case of trans- parent animals to pigment in the tissues lying beneath the slnn; or they are i)artly caused by optical effects due to the scattering, diffraction or unequal refraction of the light rays. Colours of the latter kind are often spoken of as structural colours ; they are caused by the structure of the coloured