Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/496

464 spots, stripes, and other prominent markings, have been intensified, preserved, or made permanent by a selective process, and have become, and are, of the greatest utility to the animals which possess them. Eimer, on the contrary, from the evidence of the markings on Cats and Dogs, is inclined to ascribe such markings as "due to external conditions and an internal direction of evolution, and can be acquired and inherited in spite of all pammixes" —cessation of selection, or the present non-importance of such characters in the struggle for existence. Mr. A. Tylor's views ('Colouration of Animals and Plants'), as summarized by Mr. Wallace, were that the primitive form of ornamentation consisted of spots, the confluence of these in certain directions forming lines or bands; and these again sometimes coalescing into blotches, or into more or less uniform tints covering a large portion of the surface of the body. It seems, however, more in consonance with present knowledge and opinion to consider that spots, though primitive, were not original, and succeeded, not preceded, unicolorous ornamentation, which has survived only where it has been more or less in unison with the creature's environment, and so afforded "aggressive protection," as in the case of the Lion. Some of the best observations on this point are often made by travellers who know little of the subject, are not zoologists, have no preconceived ideas, but possess a clear mind with which to observe common facts. Such an observation on the colour of the Lion is to be found in a recent book written by two ladies recounting their experiences in Mashonaland:—"His coat was soft and bright, and of a tawny colour—not unlike that of a mastiff—with black points. This colour is so like that of the sun-dried grass, that it can with difficulty be distinguished from it." If, however, it may be considered as rash to speculate on an original unicolorous or