Vocabulary

　　1. cryptic 隱藏的，保護的

　　cryptic coloring 保護色，隱藏色

　　2. predaceous 食肉的，捕食其他動物的。

　　3. vertebrate 脊椎動物門

　　4. tint 色澤，色彩

　　5. zebra 斑馬

　　6. Sargasso 果本馬尾藻

　　7. twig 嫩枝

　　8. lichen 地衣

　　9. flake 一片

　　10. gradation 等級，層次，分等

　　11. obliterate 涂抹，擦去，使消失

　　12. larva 幼蟲，幼體

　　13. pupa 蛹

　　14. mimicry 模仿，擬態

　　15. nocturnal 夜間發生的，夜出的

　　16. insectivorous 食蟲的

　　17. procryptic 有保護色的，保護性的

　　難句譯注

　　1. …the rapidity of movement which is also made use of by both pursuer and pursued, which is similarly raised to a maximum in both by the gradual dying out of the slowest through a series of generations.

　　[參考譯文] 追捕動物和被追的動物也利用快速的動作。這種快速的運動同樣是通過幾代更迭，逐漸消除了慢速，而發展到快速頂峰。

　　2. Protective resemblance is far commoner among animals than aggressive resemblance, in correspondence with the fact that predaceous forms are as a rule much larger and much less numerous than their prey.

　　[參考譯文] 保護性模仿遠比侵犯行模仿要普遍得多，這是和下述的情況想配合的：食肉的(形式)動物，按慣律總是比他們捕食的對象要大而且多得多。

　　3. The effect of a uniform appearance may be produced by a combination of tints in startling contrast.

　　[參考譯文] 在驚人的對比中，色澤的綜合可能產生外形一致的效果。

　　4. …their proportion is such as exactly to match the pale tint which arid ground possesses when seen by moonlight.

　　[參考譯文] (這里指斑馬的黑白條)比例正好和在月光下觀看貧瘠土地所具有的蒼白色澤相吻合。

　　5. In these environments the cryptic coloring of animals is usually aided by special modifications of shape, and by the instinct which leads them to assume particular attitudes.

　　[參考譯文] 在這些環境中，動物的保護色常常得到特定的形狀變化和本能的協作，這種本能會使動物采取特定的姿勢。

　　6. Complete stillness and the assumption of a certain attitude play an essential part in general resemblance on land; but in special resemblance the attitude is often highly specialized…

　　[參考譯文]　絕對靜態和采取一般姿勢在陸地的一般模仿中起很大作用，而在專門模仿中，姿勢常常是高度專門化的。

　　7. Thus the arrangement of colors of many kinds into an appropriate pattern requires the cooperation of a suitable shape and the rigidly exact adoption of a certain elaborate attitude.

　　[參考譯文] 因此許多類顏色排列成恰當的模式/形式，要求把合適的外形和嚴格的采用一定的精心設計的姿勢相結合。

　　8. The cryptic effect is due to the exact cooperation of all these factors; and in the present state of science, the only possible hole of an interpretation lies in the theory of natural selection, which can accumulate any and every variation which tends toward survival.

　　[參考譯文] 保護效果是由于所以這些因素確切合作而形成。根據目前科學水平，唯一的解釋(此種現象)就是自然選擇理論，它可以累積要生存的各種變異/變種。