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''Animal Coloration'', or in full ''Animal Coloration. An account of the principal facts and theories relating to the colours and markings of animals'', is a book by the English zoologist Frank Evers Beddard, published by Swan Sonnenschein in 1892. It formed part of the ongoing debate amongst zoologists about the relevance of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to the observed appearance, structure, and behaviour of animals. Beddard states in the book that it contains little that is new, intending instead to give a clear overview of the subject. The main topics covered are camouflage, then called 'protective coloration'; mimicry; and sexual selection. Arguments for and against these aspects of animal coloration are intensively discussed in the book. The book was reviewed in 1892 by the major journals including ''The Auk'', ''Nature'', and ''Science''. The scientist reviewers Joel Asaph Allen, Edward Bagnall Poulton and Robert Wilson Shufeldt took up different positions on the book and accordingly praised or criticized Beddard's work. Modern evaluation of the book is from a variety of perspectives, including the history of Darwinism, the history of the Thayer debate on the purpose of camouflage, the mechanisms of camouflage, sexual selection, and mimicry. Beddard is seen as having covered a wide swath of modern biology with both theory and experiment. ==Context== Beddard (1858–1925) was an English zoologist specializing in Annelid worms, but writing much more widely on topics including mammals and zoogeography. He also contributed articles on earthworms, leeches and nematode worms to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. His decision to write an accessible book on animal coloration falls into this pattern. Beddard wrote ''Animal Coloration'' at a time when scientists' confidence in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection〔Darwin, 1859.〕 was at a low ebb. Beddard's book〔Beddard, 1892.〕 was part of an ongoing debate among zoologists about how far natural selection affected animals, and how far other forces — such as the direct action of light — might be the causes of observed features such as the colours of animals. Edward Bagnall Poulton's far more strongly pro-Darwinian book ''The Colours of Animals'' had appeared just two years earlier in 1890.〔Poulton, 1890.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Animal Coloration (book)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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