276 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. [Part II 



their respective males. Deer rarely present any sexual 

 differences in color. Judge Caton, however, informs me 

 that with the males of the Wapiti deer ( Cervus Canaden- 

 sis) the neck, belly, and legs, are much darker than the 

 same parts in the female ; but during the winter the darker 

 tints gradually fade away and disappear. I may here 

 mention that Judge Caton has in his park three races of 

 the Virginian deer, which differ slightly in color, but the 

 differences are almost exclusively confined to the blue 

 winter or breeding coat ; so that this case may be com- 

 pared with those given in a previous chapter of closely- 

 allied or representative species of birds which differ from' 

 each other only in their nuptial plumage. 27 The females 

 of Cervus paludosus of South America, as well as the 

 young of both sexes, do not possess the black stripes on 

 the nose, and the blackish-brown line on the breast which 

 characterize the adult males. 28 Lastly, the mature male 

 of the beautifully colored and spotted Axis deer is con- 

 siderably darker, as I am mformed by Mr. Blyth, than 

 the female ; and this hue the castrated male never ac- 

 quires. 



The last Order which we have to consider — for I am 

 not aware that sexual differences in color occur in the 

 other mammalian groups — is that of the Primates. The 

 male of the Lemur macaco is coal-black, while the female 

 is reddish-yellow, but highly variable in color. 29 Of the 

 Quadrumana of the New World, the females and young 

 of Mycetes caraya are grayish-yellow and alike ; in the 



27 'Ottawa Academy of Sciences,' May 21, 1868, pp. 3, 5. 



* i8 S. Miiller, on the Banteng, ' Znog. Indischen Archipel.' 1839-1844, 

 tab. 35 : see also Raffles, as quoted by Mr. Blyth, in ' Land and Water,' 

 1867, p. 476. On goats, Dr. Gray, 'Cat. Brit. Mus.' p. 146; Desmarest, 

 Maramalogie,' p. 482. On the Cervus paludosus , Rengger, ibid. s. 345. 



89 Sclater, 'Proc. Zool. Soc. 1 1866, p. 1. The same fact has also been 

 fully ascertained by MM. Pollen and Van Dam. 



