430 APPENDIX 



the older males assume new characters first and transmit 

 them to the whole species. Of this also very instructive 

 examples might be given ; but I will not enter upon these, 

 but will only mention that the females usually exhibit the 

 markings of the young males, that they therefore — if the 

 ladies will permit me so to express it — stand at a lower stage 

 than the males. On the other hand, the young always 

 exhibit the original markings — therefore in any race the 

 young in respect of marking stand at the level of a long past 

 generation. It is known, for instance, that in many deer 

 certain markings on the side of the body occur only in the 

 young, in others in the adult females also, and only in rare 

 cases in the adult males. The whole modification of the 

 marking proceeds from a longitudinal striping into a spotted 

 condition, and finally into transverse striping, till the mark- 

 ing disappears altogether. If we take the roe-deer or the red- 

 deer as an example, we have in the young a longitudinal 

 striping, which is, however, already resolved into spots, or 

 very soon is so resolved. In the old roe-deer this kind of 

 markino- is no longer seen, in the female red-deer it lasts 

 longer. Cervus axis, on the other hand, still stands at the 

 lowest sta^e of evolution, for even the adult male retains the 

 longitudinal striping. Dam a vulgaris, the fallow-deer, is in 

 an intermediate condition, for it shows the fully-developed 

 longitudinal striping only in the young and the females ; but 

 even here it is but feebly defined. Similarly we find that in 

 our wild cat the marking in the young animal is at first still 

 more or less of a longitudinal striping, afterwards resolves itself 

 into spots, then becomes a transverse striping, until in the 

 old animal, and especially in the old males, the marking has 

 almost disappeared. We have here a good illustration of the 

 so-called biogenetic law, the law that the development of 

 any animal repeats the stages which were successively 

 reached by its ancestors. 



