THE FLYING LEMUR. 



The coloration of certain predaceous mammals 

 probably benefits them by rendering them incon- 

 spicuous; they are thus able with greater facility 

 to ambush their prey. The facial markings of 

 tiger-cats and paradoxures doubtless serve to 

 (literally) mask their stealthy advance upon their 

 victims. The reddish coat of the Sumatran bush- 

 dog renders it inconspicuous in the twilight thicket. 

 The white fox steals unheeded upon the lemming in 

 the Arctic snow. Conversely, the colours of their 

 victims are a set off to these advantages; animals 

 which are preyed upon by others possess in their 

 tints and markings a valuable system of life insur- 

 ance. The stone-coloured bharal sheep, high in the 

 alpine glens of Sikkim, is protected by its slate-grey 

 coat from the pursuit of the snow leopard, itself gray- 

 robed and inconspicuous. The red hartebeest 

 antelopes pasture in gallant array amid giant anthills 

 compacted of red earth. The dull-witted sloth 

 hangs from the branches of the giant cecropia, being 

 not only invisible from its dun colour but exhibiting 

 between the shoulders an orange-tinted patch which 



