COLORATION 67 



and other animals closely, although, of course, their legs bore 

 no earthly resemblance to ostrich legs, and indeed the neck 

 and head were all that was really simulated. East African 

 natives sometimes equip a donkey with the scalp and horns 

 of a hartebeest and use it with success as a stalking-horse; 

 which goes to show that oryx, zebra, hartebeest, and the 

 like pay as little heed to detail as any ducks that ever were 

 tolled to the rudest wooden decoys. A hunter I knew in 

 Montana many years ago was once bringing home part of 

 the carcass of a deer on his back, when he was pounced on 

 and knocked down by a cougar. As soon as the cougar 

 realized that it had to do with a man, it drew back; evi- 

 dently it supposed it was attacking a deer; and in the stupid 

 boldness of hunger it paid so little heed to detail as to make 

 its assault in spite of the slow pace at which the man was 

 moving and the wholly unnatural position of the deer. 



Of course, it is unwise to generalize in confident fashion 

 on a few data ; but as far as they go these experiences with 

 fish, birds, and mammals tend to show that vertebrates pay 

 no such heed to minute details of color and shape as is 

 assumed by the ultra neo-Darwinians in supporting their 

 theories of the all-sufficiency of natural selection in origi- 

 nating species, and of the extraordinary and well-nigh uni- 

 versal potency of concealing coloration as a survival factor 

 as regards all beasts that prey or are preyed on. As for 

 insects, any one who has ever seen a hornet or wasp trying 

 to catch flies in a tent and continually pouncing on any 

 black spot must realize that their vision is so poor that they 

 cannot take in details of even an obvious kind. 



Boutroux has dwelt on the need of using common sense 

 in testing the extravagances of scientists no less than the 



