94 Colouration in Animals and Plants. 



as Wallace and Darwin have pointed out, all abnormal changes of 

 the teeth are correlated with changes in the hair. Moreover the 

 muscles of the shoulder region are so enormously developed as to 

 render this otherwise defenceless animal so formidable that even the 

 jaguar avoids an embrace which tightens to a death-grip. This region 

 is, therefore, precisely the one we should expect to be strongly 

 emphasized. This being the case, we have really no exception in 

 this creature. 



Certain mammals are banded horizontally along their sides, thus 

 losing most of their axial decoration, and this is well shown among 

 the Viverridse, and smaller rodents. Now, however conspicuous 

 such animals may appear in collections, they are in their native 

 haunts very difficult to detect. In all cases there is a marked dorsal 

 line ; and we suggest that the mature decoration is due to a suppres- 

 sion of the axial decoration for protective purposes, and a repetition 

 of the dorsal decoration according to the law before enunciated. 

 Indeed, in one case we were able to trace this pretty clearly, in the 

 beautiful series of Sits vitiatus in the museum at Leyden. This pig, 

 an inhabitant of Java, when mature is a dark brown animal, but in 

 the very young state it is clearly marked in yellow and brown, with 

 a dark dorsal stripe, and spots, taking the line of the ribs, and over 

 the shoulder and thigh. As the animal grows older, the spots run 

 into stripes, and it becomes as clearly banded horizontally as the 

 viverridee. Finally the dark bands increase in width, until they 

 unite, and the creature becomes almost uniformly brown. 



We have not been able to see young specimens of the viverridee, 

 but a similar change may there occui - , or it may have occurred in 

 former times. We must also remember that these creatures are 

 long-bodied, like the weasels, and hence they may have a tendency 

 to produce long stripes. 



In the case of our domestic animals, especially the oxen, the 

 decoration seems often to have become irregular, but even here the 

 emphasis of the extremities is generally clearly made out, and that 

 of the limbs can often be traced. In horses this is better shown, and 

 dappled varieties often well illustrate the points. Most horses at 

 some time show traces of spots. 



Sufficient has now been said to point out the laws we believe to 

 have regulated the decoration of the animal kingdom. The full 

 working out of the question must be left to the future, but it is 

 hoped that a solid groundwork has been laid down. 



