220 MY SOMALI BOOK 



and increased necessity for protection, the removal 

 of the spots and stripes made for concealment — which 

 is most interesting in view of the opinions of others 

 that the existence of stripes makes for concealment. 



But he goes on, " This maybe the true explanation, 

 but it is rather strange that the young" (which need it 

 most) " should not have been thus protected, and 

 still more so that the adults of some species should 

 have retained their spots." Exactly. But if these 

 markings were themselves protective, instead of being 

 due to sexual selection, there is no difficulty in supposing 

 that if for any reason the need for protection dis- 

 appeared the markings might disappear, remaining in 

 the young by the known law that the young of the 

 individual resembles the adult type of the race in 

 its youth. Of that more presently. It is, moreover, 

 impossible to explain on the sexual selection theory 

 the undoubted fact that striped and spotted animals 

 are almost invariabty inhabitants of the jungle or 

 bush and rarely if ever of the open plain, — admitting 

 for the moment the zebra to be a striking exception. 



Dr. Wallace has on other and weighty grounds 

 attacked the foundations of the whole theory of sexual 

 selection operating through female preferences for 

 ornamental colours, etc. (while admitting the existence 

 and importance of sexual selection through the female's 

 choice of the stronger and more vigorous males) ; and 

 even if we follow Darwin as to the general principle, 

 it seems to me impossible on the whole to account in 

 this manner for the colouring of the majority of those 

 animals in which there is little or no difference between 

 the sexes. 



