Colouration in Animals and Plants — Themes and Context

Structural Decoration in Sea Anemones and Corals

The excerpts provide detailed observations of coelenterates. In the common crass (Bunodes crassicornis), color is distributed according to structure: the base, not exposed to light, is uncolored; the column is irregularly spotted; but the tentacles are most definitely ornamented with a constant heart-shaped pattern. Tylor notes that in Actinea mesembryanthemum, the marginal bodies are turquoise blue against a blood-red disc—a simple structural decoration. Coral reefs are described as sea-gardens where growing points of white branching corals are tipped with vivid purple, and brain-corals have polyps in contrasting colors. The organ-pipe coral (Tubipora musica) shows deep crimson skeleton with emerald green polyps, a contrast Tylor calls intentional. These examples illustrate his law of emphasis: where function is localized, color is concentrated.

Hypodermal vs. Epidermal Color and the Role of Light

Tylor distinguishes between decorative color that must be external in opaque animals and can be internal in transparent ones. He argues that hypodermal color is original, epidermal newer—citing Haagen's hint that mimetic color was originally hypodermal. Protective color under personal control, as in chameleons, is always hypodermal. The text states that true decorative color never exists in the interior of opaque animals; it is always developed under the influence of light. White bones and red muscles are not decorative because they are uniform—unlike hairs or scales that are variously painted. This framework ties color directly to visibility and function, a key structuralist argument.

Theoretical Foundations: Inherited Memory and Conscious Design

The preface reveals Tylor's intellectual debts. He was forced to recognize some sort of consciousness even in lowest life forms, and inherited memory became part of his scientific faith. Skertchly notes that Tylor was gratified by Samuel Butler's Life and Habit and strengthened by Romanes' Mental Evolution adopting that theory. The book's laws—emphasis, symmetry, repetition—are presented as universal, with Tylor seeking exceptions but finding none before his death. Skertchly, who finished the abstract, fears the work suffers from want of amplification but hopes between the lines can be seen gleams of brighter light. This editorial framing shapes how the scientific content is presented: as an incomplete but coherent system.

Readers should note that the excerpts represent only a fraction of Tylor's accumulated facts, and the book's argument is condensed. Skertchly's editorial hand is evident in the preface and likely throughout. The work is best approached as a Victorian natural history text that blends structural observation with speculative evolutionary psychology. Pay attention to how Tylor uses specific cases—like sea anemone patterns—to support general laws, and consider the historical context of debates about inheritance and consciousness.

I keep thinking about Tylor’s quiet conviction that color follows hidden laws, almost like memory shaping a shell. It reminded me how much inheritance sits beneath everything we call decoration, even in our own homes with animals beside us. There’s a softer companion in Domesticated animals — Reading Notes, and the two have lingered together in my mind all week.