28 EXPOSED AND CONCEALED ANIMALS 



Land planarians offer instances of cryptozoic 

 animals which are brightly coloured ; the species 

 are differentiated according to their colour mark- 

 ings, and richly tinted individuals are to be found 

 in rotten logs in a dormant state by day, with the 

 body looped in a characteristic manner; if left un- 

 observed for a short time exposed to light, they 

 glide rapidly away to a place of concealment. 



A journey through any tropical forest or 

 jungle, or even a little reflection will, I think, 

 suffice to convince one that while the vegetation 

 is luxuriantly phanerotactic, animal life is pre- 

 dominantly cryptotactic. The jungle is like the 

 desert and the ocean, to all superficial appear- 

 ances frequently devoid of animal life. This is 

 possibly not the impression which one would 

 receive from the perusal of faunistic works ; but 

 it is certainly that which is produced by observa- 

 tions in the open, and I regard it as one of the 

 radical bionomical or habitual differences between 

 animals and plants. 



Vegetation is always exposed, it is permanently 

 phanerotactic, but the most conspicuous animals 

 in the natural state are only partially or periodi- 

 cally so. In many instances, especially among 

 the hoofed mammals (Ungulata), the cryptotaxis 

 can be properly appreciated only under natural 

 conditions. Arboreal mammals, such as squirrels 

 and monkeys, are amongst the most clearly phan- 

 erotactic members of the class Mammalia, but 



