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Hugh B. Cott
Hugh Bamford Cott, probably in 1945 when he became a fellow of Selwyn College. Courtesy ofSelwyn College, Cambridge
Born
Hugh Bamford Cott

(1900-07-06)6 July 1900
Ashby Magna,Leicestershire,England
Died18 April 1987(1987-04-18)(aged 86)
Stoke Abbott,Dorset, England
NationalityEnglish
Alma materSelwyn College, Cambridge
University of Glasgow
Known forCamouflage,Countershading
SpouseJoyce Radford
Children1
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
InstitutionsSelwyn College, Cambridge
ThesisThe Problem of Adaptive Coloration with Special Reference to theAnura(1938)
Doctoral advisorJohn Graham Kerr

Hugh Bamford Cott(6 July 1900 – 18 April 1987) was a Britishzoologist,an authority on both natural and militarycamouflage,and a scientific illustrator andphotographer.Many of his field studies took place inAfrica,where he was especially interested in theNile crocodile,the evolution of pattern and colour in animals. During theSecond World War,Cott worked as a camouflage expert for the British Army and helped to influence War Office policy on camouflage. His bookAdaptive Coloration in Animals(1940), popular among serving soldiers, was the major textbook on camouflage in zoology of the twentieth century. After the war, he became a Fellow ofSelwyn College, Cambridge.As a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, he undertook expeditions to Africa and the Amazon to collect specimens, mainly reptiles and amphibians.

Life and career

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Cott was born inAshby Magna,Leicestershire,England,on 6 July 1900; his father was therectorthere.[1]He was schooled atRugby.In 1919, he graduated from theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst,and was commissioned into theLeicestershire Regiment.Between 1922 and 1925, he studied atSelwyn College,Cambridge.[2]

He had intended to become a priest, and went to Cambridge to read theology, but after his first year he went on the university expedition toSouth America,where he studied natural forms in easternBrazilin 1923, led by theentomologistFrank Balfour Browne,where he became fascinated bynatural history,and changed his studies to zoology on his return.[3]He then went on an expedition to the lowerAmazon(1925–1926), and on research trips to theZambesi riverarea inAfrica(1927),[4]includingMozambique,ZambiaandEast Africa,andLanzarote(1930). He married Joyce Radford in 1928. He was a lecturer in zoology atBristol Universityfrom 1928 until 1932, when he moved toGlasgow University.He studied under another advocate ofmilitary camouflage,John Graham Kerr.His thesis, which he completed in 1935 under aCarnegie Fellowship,was on 'adaptive coloration' – both camouflage andwarning coloration– in theAnura(frogs).[5]In 1938 he was made aDoctor of Scienceat Glasgow, and he became a Zoology lecturer atCambridge Universityand Strickland Curator of Birds at theuniversity's Museum of Zoology.[5][6][7]

Cott served in the Leicestershire Regiment of theBritish Army[8]as a camouflage expert from 1919 to 1922, and, during theSecond World War,with theRoyal Engineersas a camouflage instructor from 1939 to 1945.[5][9]Cott was chief instructor at theCamouflage Development and Training CentreatHelwan,Egypt,under filmmakerGeoffrey Barkasfrom its inception in November 1941.[10]

After the war, Cott returned to Cambridge, becoming a Fellow of Selwyn College in 1945; he worked there until he retired in 1967.[11]He gave the Fison Memorial Lecture of 1958 on 'Protective Coloration in Animals'.[12]He continued to work from time to time after his retirement, for instance conducting a survey ofcrocodilenests on the VictoriaNilefor theUganda National Parksin 1972.[13][14]He died at the age of 86 on 18 April 1987.[2]

Camouflage

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Further information:Adaptive Coloration in AnimalsandCamouflage
Disruptive colorationby Hugh Cott, fromAdaptive Coloration in Animals(1940)

While trying to photograph a henpartridgeon her nest, Cott waited for hours for the bird to return, finally taking some pictures of the empty nest before giving up. On developing the photographs, he realized the bird had been there all along, perfectly camouflaged.[15]

As acamouflageexpert during theSecond World War,Cott likened the functions ofmilitary camouflageto those ofprotective colorationin nature. The three main categories of coloration in his bookAdaptive Coloration in Animalsareconcealment,disguise,andadvertisement.He studied, described and presented examples of such diverse camouflage effects asobliterative shading,disruption,differential blending, high contrast,coincident disruption,concealment of the eye,contour obliteration,shadowelimination, and mimicry. In his wartime lectures atFarnham Castle,he described nine categories of visualdeception:[16]

  1. merging, e.g. hare,polar bear[16]
  2. disruption, e.g.ringed plover[16]
  3. disguise, e.g.stick insect[16]
  4. mis-direction, e.g. butterfly and fisheyespots[16]
  5. dazzle, e.g. somegrasshoppers[16]
  6. decoy, e.g.angler fish[16]
  7. smokescreen, e.g.cuttlefish[16]
  8. the dummy, e.g. flies, ants[16]
  9. false display of strength, e.g. toads, lizards[16]
Two rail-mounted guns are shown in the photograph. Acountershadedone camouflaged by Hugh Cott (above) and one in conventional style (below), August 1940[17]

Cott's account of all this (illustrated by his own pen and ink drawings) is the 550-page bookAdaptive Coloration in Animals(1940).[18]It was proof-read by Kerr, who commented on its publication 'It is by far the finest thing of the kind in existence'.[19]His co-workers' first-hand accounts of his work in military camouflage can be found in the memoirs of two of his fellow camoufleurs:Julian Trevelyan[20]andRoland Penrose.[21]

Peter Forbes wrote of Cott's book:[22]

Cott'sAdaptive Coloration in Animalsmust be the only compendious zoology tract ever to be packed in a soldier's kitbag. The book also marks the apotheosis of the descriptivenatural historyphase of mimicry studies. Although Cott does report experiments on predation to test the efficacy of mimicry and camouflage, the book is essentially a narrative of examples plus theory.[22]

Cott was critical of attempts at camouflage not based on "vigorous disruptive contrasts".[23]1943 painting by Colin Moss of a cooling tower camouflaged with a landscape scene

The book was written as war loomed, and published in wartime. Cott makes use of his knowledge of natural history to draw parallels between survival in nature and in war,[24]and to advise on military camouflage, for example commenting:

Various recent attempts to camouflage tanks, armoured cars, and the roofs of buildings with paint reveal an almost complete failure by those responsible to grasp the essential factor in the disguise of surface continuity and contour… in nature vigorous disruptive contrasts are frequently seen at work, and their wonderful effectiveness in hindering recognition needs to be experienced in the field to be fully appreciated.[23]

Forbes notes thatAdaptive Coloration in Animalsis a narrative, short on the experimentation that followed after the war, but Forbes continues:[22]

But Cott's book is still valuable today for its enormous range, for its passionate exposition of the theories of mimicry and camouflage.[22]

Cott attempted to persuade the British army to use more effective camouflage techniques, including countershading. For example, in August 1940, with theBattle of Britainimminent, he painted two rail-mounted coastal guns, one in conventional style, onecountershaded.Inaerial photographs,the countershaded gun is essentially invisible.[17]Cott was triumphant, announcing:[17]

These photographs furnish most convincing proof of the effectiveness of countershading, and are especially valuable in that we have in them a direct comparison between the two methods.

However (like Kerr before him in the First World War), Cott did not succeed in influencing policy on camouflage, and he resigned from the Camouflage Advisory Panel in 1940.[25]

Artwork

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Art with a purpose:Cott's invisiblepotoo,disruptively patterned[26]

Cott was a founding member of theSociety of Wildlife Artists,and a fellow of theRoyal Photographic Society.[5]From material gathered in field expeditions, he made contributions to the Cambridge University zoological museum.

Cott possessed considerable artistic skill. LikeAbbott Thayer,he used his artistry in his scientific work, including inAdaptive Coloration in Animals,to help argue the case he was making.[22]For example, his black-and-white potoo shows this rainforest bird sitting motionless on a mottled tree trunk, its behaviour and disruptive pattern combining to provide effective camouflage. The philosopher and jazz musicianDavid Rothenbergwrote of Cott's art:[26]

Back to Hugh Cott's marvelous engraving of apotoohidden in a black and whiteCosta Ricanforest, frozen vertically like the tree trunk on which it hides. In nature the visible and invisible dance back and forth with each other, depending on how much we have learned to see. The science and art of this magic merge into one at the moment we grasp it.[26]

Writings

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In addition toAdaptive Coloration in Animals,Cott wrote two essays on camouflage: “Camouflage in nature and in war”[27]and” Animal form in relation to appearance”.[28]As a scientific illustrator and photographer, he also wrote three other books:Zoological photography in practice(1956);Uganda in black and white(1959); andLooking at animals: a zoologist in Africa(1975). He became interested in the relationship of bird colours with their role as warning colours, an idea that arose when he observed hornets attracted to some birds being skinned while ignoring others. This led him to study the palatability of birds and their eggs. Among his papers were several studies on the relative palatibility of the eggs based initially on the preferences of ferrets, rats and hedgehogs and later on the use of a panel of expert egg tasters. In one study he found that of 123 species of bird, thekittiwakeeggs scored highly with 8.2 out of 10.[29][30][31][32]

Legacy

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Forbes praised Cott's balance of science and artistry:[22]

..in the conflict between artists and biologists, he was both. Cott was a competent illustrator as well as a biologist. Without havingNabokov's precisianism and anti-Darwinism, he brought an artistic sensibility to bear on these phenomena. His text is radiant with the wonder of theseadaptations.[22]

Over 60 years after its publication,Adaptive Coloration in Animalsremains a core reference on the subject; the evolutionary biologistsGraeme Ruxton,Thomas N. Sherrattand Michael Speed conclude their book onanimal colorationby writing

The study of animal coloration and associatedanti-predator adaptationshas a long history... this field of research has been blessed from the earliest years with the insights of particularly gifted scientists. The writings ofWallace,Bates,Müller,Poultonand Cott truly stand up to the test of time: these individuals deserve even better renown not just as greatnatural historiansbut as exceptional scientists too.[33]

The biologistSteven Vogelcommented that:[34]

The zoologist Hugh Cott had the final word inAdaptive Coloration in Animals(1940), a definitive synthesis of everything known aboutcamouflageandmimicryin nature. Cott ruffled fewer feathers [thanTrofim LysenkoorVladimir Nabokov], and his well-organized and unfanatic ideas proved militarily effective, even under the scrutiny of improved techniques for target detection.Thayer’s principles reemerged in more temperate and rational terms, and camouflage schemes based on them survived both photometric analyses and enemy encounters.Biomimeticcamouflage took its place as yet another technique in a sophisticated armamentarium of visual deceptions.

An exhibition of his art, writing, and photographs, 'Life, Lines & Illusion', was held at theNature in Artgallery inGloucesterin September and October 2018.[35]

References

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  1. ^Forsyth 2012,p. 67.
  2. ^ab"Papers of Hugh Cott".SEPP/COT (formerly HC/1-2).Janus.Retrieved25 July2012.
  3. ^Forsyth 2012,p. 127.
  4. ^Cott, Hugh B. (1934). "The Zoological Society's Expedition to the Zambesi, 1927: No. 5. On a Collection of Lizards, mainly from Portuguese East Africa, with Descriptions of new Species of Zonurus, Monopeltis, and Chirindia".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.104(1): 145–173.doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1934.tb06228.x.
  5. ^abcd"Hugh Bamford Cott".University of Glasgow.Archived fromthe originalon 14 May 2013.Retrieved17 October2012.
  6. ^Campbell, Bruce; Lack, Elizabeth (2013).A Dictionary of Birds.A & C Black. pp. Entry: H.B.C. – Hugh Bamford Cott.ISBN978-1408138397.
  7. ^Forsyth 2014.
  8. ^London Gazette 26 January 1920. Cott is in the Leicestershire Regiment.
  9. ^"Supplement"(PDF).London Gazette.28 January 1941. p. 552.
  10. ^Forbes 2009,pp. 155–156.
  11. ^Forsyth 2012,p. 124.
  12. ^"Fison Memorial Lectures"(PDF).King's College London. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 6 January 2014.Retrieved5 January2014.
  13. ^Cott, Hugh B. (1961). "Scientific results of an inquiry into the ecology and economic status of the Nile Crocodile (Crocodilus niloticus) in Uganda and Northern Rhodesia".The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.29(4): 211–356.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1961.tb00220.x.
  14. ^Pooley, Tony (April 1972)."Newsletter No. 4"(PDF).IUCN Crocodile Specialists Group.Retrieved15 January2014.
  15. ^Forsyth 2012,pp. 122–123.
  16. ^abcdefghijForbes 2009,pp. 152–153. Farnham Lecture No. 5
  17. ^abcForbes 2009,pp. 149–150
  18. ^Cott 1940.
  19. ^Forsyth 2012,p. 140.
  20. ^Trevelyan 1957.
  21. ^Penrose 1981.
  22. ^abcdefgForbes 2009,p. 153
  23. ^abCott 1940,pp. 53–54 Cited inForsyth 2012,p. 149
  24. ^Forsyth 2012,pp. 147–148.
  25. ^Forsyth 2012,p. 173.
  26. ^abcRothenberg, David(2011).Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science and Evolution.Bloomsbury. p. 167.
  27. ^in theRoyal Engineers Journal(December 1938), pp. 501–517
  28. ^inLancelot Law Whyte,ed.Aspects of form: a symposium on form in nature and art(London: Percy Lund Humphries, 1951)
  29. ^Prchlik, Maria (25 November 2013)."Don't try this at home".Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.Retrieved5 January2014.
  30. ^Cott, Hugh B. (1954). "The palatability of the eggs of birds: mainly based upon observations of an Egg Panel".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.124(2): 335–464.doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1954.tb07786.x.
  31. ^Cott, Hugh B. (1947). "The Edibility of Birds: Illustrated by Five Years' Experiments and Observations (1941–1946) on the Food Preferences of the Hornet, Cat and Man;and considered with Special Reference to the Theories of Adaptive Coloration".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.116(3–4): 371–524.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1947.tb00131.x.
  32. ^Cott, Hugh B.; C. W. Benson (1969). "The palatability of birds, mainly based upon observations of a tasting panel in Zambia".Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology.40:357–384.doi:10.1080/00306525.1969.9639135.
  33. ^Ruxton, Sherratt & Speed 2004,p. 200.
  34. ^Vogel, Steven."The Deceptional Life".American Scientist.September–October 2010. Volume 98, Number 5, p. 436doi:10.1511/2010.86.436
  35. ^"Life, Lines & Illusion".Nature In Art.Retrieved12 October2018.

Bibliography

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By Cott

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Books
  • Cott, Hugh B. (1940).Adaptive Coloration in Animals.Methuen.
  • ————— (1975).Looking at Animals: a Zoologist in Africa.Scribner.
  • ————— (1959).Uganda in Black and White.Macmillan.
  • ————— (1956).Zoological Photography in Practice.Fountain Press.
Journals
  • Cott, Hugh B. (1936). "The effectiveness of protective adaptations in the Hive-Bee, illustrated by experiments on the feeding reactions, habit formation, and memory of the common toad (Bufo bufo bufo)".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.106(1): 111–133.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1936.tb02283.x.
  • ————— (1951). "The Palatability of the Eggs of Birds: Illustrated by Experiments on the Food Preferences of the Hedgehog (Erinaceus Europaeus)".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.121(1): 1–41.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00726.x.
  • ————— (1952). "The palatability of the eggs of birds: illustrated by three seasons' experiments (1947, 1948 and 1950) on the food preferences of the Rat (Rattus norvegicus); and with special reference to the protective adaptations of eggs considered in relation to vulnerability".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.122(1): 1–54.doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1952.tb06312.x.
  • ————— (1953). "The palatability of the eggs of birds: illustrated by experiments on the food preferences of the Ferret (Putorius furo) and Cat (Felis catus); with notes on other egg-eating Carnivora".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.123(1): 123–141.doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1953.tb00160.x.
  • ————— (1938).Wonder Island of the Amazon Delta; on Marajo Cowboys Ride Oxen, Tree-Dwelling Animals Throng Dense Forests.National GeographicMagazine.

About Cott

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