Page:Darwinism by Alfred Wallace 1889.djvu/212

190 great variability. We see this in our horses and cattle, our dogs and cats, our pigeons and poultry. Now, the essential difference between the conditions of life of domesticated and wild animals is, that the former are protected by man, while the latter have to protect themselves. The extreme variations in colour that immediately arise under domestication indicate a tendency to vary in this way, and the occasional occurrence of white or piebald or other exceptionally coloured individuals of many species in a state of nature, shows that this tendency exists there also; and, as these exceptionally coloured individuals rarely or never increase, there must be some constant power at work to keep it in check. This power can only be natural selection or the survival of the fittest, which again implies that some colours are useful, some injurious, in each particular case. With this principle as our guide, let us see how far we can account both for the general and special colours of the animal world.

The fact that first strikes us in our examination of the colours of animals as a whole, is the close relation that exists between these colours and the general environment. Thus, white prevails among arctic animals; yellow or brown in desert species; while green is only a common colour in tropical evergreen forests. If we consider these cases somewhat carefully we shall find, that they afford us excellent materials for forming a judgment on the various theories that have been suggested to account for the colours of the animal world.

In the arctic regions there are a number of animals which are wholly white all the year round, or which only turn white in winter. Among the former are the polar bear and the American polar hare, the snowy owl and the Greenland falcon; among the latter the arctic fox, the arctic hare, the ermine, and the ptarmigan. Those which are permanently white remain among the snow nearly all the year round, while those which change their colour inhabit regions which are free from snow in summer. The obvious explanation of this style of coloration is, that it is protective, serving to conceal the herbivorous species from their enemies, and enabling carnivorous animals to approach their prey unperceived. Two other explanations have,