COLORATION 105 



but this has not made any difference in their habits, and the 

 advertising coloration of one sex and conceaHng coloration 

 of the other apparently confer neither any advantage nor 

 any disadvantage in the struggle for life. Habit and cover 

 are the vital factors. The old bucks of the white-withered 

 lechwis are inversely countershaded, being white on top 

 (like one species of serow). We are often asked by the con- 

 cealing-colorationists to consider how the coloration of the 

 tiger would reveal it if it were inverted; well, in these ante- 

 lopes the coloration is inverted! and no detrimental results 

 follow, although they, also, are cover-hunting species. This 

 fact alone is sufficient to cast grave doubt on the assertion 

 that the tiger's stripes and countershading and white belly 

 have been developed by natural selection for concealing 

 purposes; probably they have no survival value. The sit- 

 atunga dwells in reeds on water-soaked ground like the 

 lechwi; their colorations are so totally different that they 

 cannot both be concealing. As a matter of fact, it is prob- 

 able that neither is; but that of the adult buck lechwi is 

 certainly revealing. 



In the deep, moist forests the true big-game animals are 

 the beautifully striped and richly tinted bongo and the 

 dark monochrome forest hog. Both have the same foes 

 and the same habits so far as their relations to these foes 

 are concerned. The colorations are utterly unlike, and if 

 one is concealing the other must be revealing. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, neither has any effect in either concealing or 

 revealing the wearer; habit and cover are all-important. 



The bushbuck extends over vast areas of Africa, and its 

 various forms exhibit the widest variety of coloring. In 

 some regions the coat is a network of white stripes and 



