224 MY SOMALI BOOK 



as they do, whether there is not some explanation of 

 the fact. 



I have said that on the whole Mr. Selous appears 

 to prove his case. By this I mean that he has shown 

 that under existing conditions at the present day 

 many animals, hitherto believed to be protectively 

 coloured, in point of fact derive little, if any, material 

 benefit from their colouration. 



But in certain cases his observations are open to 

 criticism. For instance, with regard to the supposed 

 protective effect in the bush of the stripes on the body 

 of the kudu, he states that the greater kudu, though 

 never found on the open plains, is, on the other hand, 

 seldom met with in really dense jungle. But so long 

 as the animal is frequently found in bush, the pro- 

 tective effect would still have some value even when 

 the bush was not very dense. Besides, Mr. Selous 

 himself is quoted elsewhere {Game Animals of Africa) 

 as sajdng of this species : " Two conditions are 

 necessary to its existence, water and bush ; " and again, 

 " kudu are essentially bush-loving animals, and during 

 the greater part of the year seldom met with except 

 in thick covert." This is confirmed by Kirby. 



Moreover, it is instructive to note that this species 

 in Abyssinia and Somaliland has only five stripes on 

 each side of its body, as compared with nine or ten 

 borne by the southern variety, which frequents less 

 mountainous and more thickly wooded country. To 

 carry the comparison further, the lesser kudu, with a 

 taste for really thick jungle, and rarely found out of 

 it, is still more heavily striped. The habitat of each 

 variety is thus, as Dr. Lydekker points out, exactly 



