Five paper page with references: Consider the first copy of an allele for insecticide resistance that arises by mutation in a population of insects exposed to an insecticide. Is this mutation an adaptation? If, after some generations, we find that most of the population is resistant, is the resistance an adaptation? If we discover genetic variation for insecticide resistance in a population that has had no experience of insecticides, is the variation an adaptation? If an insect population is polymorphic for two alleles, each of which confers resistance against one of two pesticides that are alternately applied, is the variation an adaptation? Or is each of the two resistance traits an adaptation?