COLOUR PHASES OF THE RUFOUS HORSESHOE-DATS. 267 



(cf ad. Yellapur,N. Kanara, 20th February, B. M. O. 4. 1. 8, about 

 one year and nine months old) and by several from April. 



In'dividnals wliich liave passed into this brilliantly orange colour 

 phase no doubt remain there till the " spring " moult. As stated 

 above, the only February skin I have seen is in this phase ; from 

 lilarch no skins are available ; but I have before me a long series 

 from April, a considerable number of which are as bright-coloured 

 as the brightest January specimens. It is probable, however, that 

 shortly before the next moult sets in (May) the colours lose a little 

 of their gloss and brightness. I have unfortunately no " spring " 

 specimens moulting from the orange into the dark mouse-coloured 

 phase, but October specimens changing from orange to dark 

 pelage exhibit this slightly duller appearance of the old orange 

 coat. 



Such are the colour changes from October to April-Maj?- in indi- 

 viduals which run throiujh all phases. But a very important fact I 

 now have to call attention to. Although the individuals which pass 

 through the whole scale of colour changes are decidedly in the 

 majority in my dated material (the whole of which, it should be 

 remembered, is from the region of the Peninsula between S. Mysore 

 and the Konkan), a certain, and by no means small, percentage of 

 specimens stop short at an intermediate please (never, throughout the 

 half-yearly period here under consideration, passing beyond that 

 stap-e), ivhile others can even hardly he said to pass into am/ bright 

 phase at all, the coat being subject only to a rather ordinar}-" fading 

 of its colours. I will deal with these two categories of specimens 

 separately: — 



First, individuals remaining at an " intermediate " colour phase.— 

 The first phase into which the freshly moulted (mouse-brown and 

 mouse-grey) October coat passes is (as we have seen above) the 

 auburn phase. We found already in October some individuals 

 which were either on the point of changing the colour of the coat 

 into auburn or had practically completed this change, and 

 I took this as evidence that this colour change must 

 take place rapidly ; further, we found the fully developed auburn 

 phase in the November series. But, as mentioned above, 

 there is in the Survey series from Januar}'^, that is, at a time when 

 most individuals have passed into a bright orange phase, one indivi- 

 dual (a nine months old male. No. 556) which has remained in the 

 aubui-n stage : and there is in the British Museum collection 

 another skin from January ($ ad., Sirsi, North Kanara, Jan. 11, 

 1900, No. 0.4.1.6, about nine months old) in exactl}^ the same 

 phase. Even much later in the season the auburn phase is met 

 with. The April series numbers thirty-four, and of these four are 

 auburn, while a few others are onh* a little more advanced. There 



