II AN EXCEPTIONAL ENVIRONMENT 39 



that species, as he was " anxious to ascertain whether 

 the animal rigorously protected in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cape Agulhas differed in any respect 

 from that found in the interior, as pretended by the 

 colonists^ 



I think myself that the correct determination of 

 the true distribution of these two nearly allied 

 species of antelopes is of the utmost importance to 

 the question as to the influence of environment on 

 the coloration of animals. 



I imagine that the white -faced bontebok was 

 evolved from the same ancestral form as the topi 

 and the tiang of East and Northern Africa, for the 

 new-born bontebok as well as the blesbok has a 

 blackish brown face, and I believe — however fan- 

 tastic this belief may appear to be — that the wonder- 

 fully rich and varied coloration of this remarkable 

 antelope has been brought about purely through 

 the influence of its exceptional environment. The 

 plains where these animals live lie along the shore 

 of a deep blue sea, the ground beneath their feet 

 is at certain seasons of the year carpeted with wild 

 flowers, which grow in such profusion that they give 

 a distinct colour to the landscape, whilst above 

 them rises a range of mountains of a considerable 

 altitude, the upper parts of which are often covered 

 with a mantle of pure white snow. I cannot imagine 

 how any one who has seen bonteboks on the plains 

 they inhabit can believe that their white rumps, 

 faces, bellies, and legs, contrasting as they do so 

 vividly with the dark rich brown of their sides and 

 necks, can afford them any protection against their 

 carnivorous foes ; nor, although a white rump or face 

 is a conspicuous mark, can I see the necessity of 

 recognition marks for animals which live on open 

 plains where the vegetation is short, and where an 

 animal's whole body can be seen at a long distance. 



In the blesbok, which also lives on open plains, 



