546 The Descent of Man. Part II % 



" not surpassed by any other quadruped." But as throughout 

 the whole group of the Equidae the sexes are identical in colour, 

 we have here no evidence ol sexual selection. Nevertheless he 

 who attributes the white and dark vertical stripes on the flanks 

 of various antelopes to this process, will probably extend the 

 same view to the Eoyal Tiger and beautiful Zebra. 



We have seen in a former chapter that when young animals 

 belonging to any class follow nearly the same habits of life as 

 their parents, and yet are coloured in a different manner, it may 

 be inferred that they have retained the colouring of some 

 ancient and extinct progenitor. In the family of pigs, and in 

 the tapirs, the young are marked with longitudinal stripes, 

 and thus differ from all the existing adult species in these two 

 groups. With many kinds of deer the young are marked with 

 elegant white spots, of which their parents exhibit not a trace. 

 A graduated series can be followed from the axis deer, both 

 sexes of winch at all ages and during all seasons are beautifully 

 spotted (the male being rather more strongly coloured than the 

 female), to species in which neither the old nor the young aro 

 spotted. I will specify some of the steps in this series. The 

 Mantchurian deer (Cervus mantchuricus) is spotted during the 

 whole year, but, as I have seen in the Zoological Gardens, the 

 spots are much plainer during the summer, when the general 

 colour of the coat is lighter, than during the winter, when the 

 general colour is darker and the horns are fully developed. In 

 the hog-deer ( Uydaphus porcinus) the spots are extremely con- 

 spicuous during the summer when the coat is reddish-brown, 

 but quite disappear during the winter when the coat is brown. 41 

 In both these species the young are spotted. In the Virginian 

 deer the young are likewise spotted, and about five per cent, of 

 the adult animals living in Judge Caton's park, as I am in- 

 formed by him, temporarily exhibit at the period when the red 

 summer coat is being replaced by the bluish winter coat, a row 

 of spots on each flank, which are always the same in number, 

 though very variable in distinctness. From this condition there 

 is but a very small step to the complete absence of spots in the 

 adults at all seasons ; and, lastly, to their absence at all ages and 

 seasons, as occurs with certain species. From the existence of 

 this perfect series, and more especially from the fawns of so many 

 species being spotted, we may conclude that the now living 

 members of the deer family are the descendants of some ancient 



41 Dr. Gray, ' Gleanings from the deer of Ceylon, says it is more 



Menagerie of Knowsley,' p. b-k brightly spotted with white than 



Mr. Blyth, in speaking (' Land and the common hog-deer, at the season 



Water,' 1869, p. 42) of the hog- when it renews its horns. 



