SOME NATURE NOTES. 101 



some time, from concealment in the \riiter-conr.se, I watched this scene 

 with interest. It seemed a pity to disturb it, hut I wished to find 

 where the tiger had gone. A cow bison with two calves also appeared 

 on the edge of the forest. As I emerged into the glade, the nearest 

 spotted hinds, whose dappled hides assimilated remarkably with their 

 surroundings of sunlight and shade, uttered shrill barks of alarm ; and 

 soon all disappeared like spectres in tiie shades of the forest. 



li is remarkal)le how the colouration of spotted animals blends witli 

 the light and shade of the sun shining through foliage. On one 

 occasion I shot a leopard, which made off into a patch of bush between 

 the leaves of which the sun was shining ; creeping about among the 

 bushes, it was some time before I could distinguish the animal, lying- 

 dead fortunately, within three or four yards of me. I have found 

 the same difficulty in some localities when following up tigers, on 

 one occasion in particular, when a wounded animal went into long 

 grass, where it was almost indistinguishable. I have, however, always 

 inclined to the opinion that the views of scientific naturalists with 

 regard to protective colouration are rather far-fetched. Thus Mr. 

 A. R. Wallace ascribes to it the purpose of concealing " herbivorous 

 species from their enemies, and enabling carnivorous animals to ap- 

 proach their prey unperceived." For colouration to afford protection 

 necessitates the absence of motion. With Mr. Selous, I am inclined 

 to think that colouration is far more due to environment, to the colour 

 of the surroundings and to climatic causes than to sexual selection for 

 protective purposes. It is noticeable how animals become assimilated 

 to the general colour of their surroundings, from which they probably 

 take their complexion, as the arctic animals turn white in the snows 

 of winter. In the case of fishes, this adaptation of colour to the 

 environment takes place very rapidly ; in a lake in Norway I have 

 caught blue coloured trout where the blue glacier water run in ; and 

 black ones from dark holes amon^ the rocks : and bright silverv fish 

 in the more open water. The lower animals, in fact, appear to adapt 

 themselves rapidly to the complexion of their surroundings. There is 

 a species of spider in the south of France, which adapts itself to the 

 colour of the flowers it frequents, and will change its colour in a few 

 days when transferred from one flower to another of different hue. 

 This is typical of changes due to environment throughout the animal 

 world, although the mammalia do not change colour so rapidly. But 



