Permanence and Evolution. 145 



reason, does not impress the eye of female 

 animals ? Then why is bright green one of the 

 commonest elements in the colouration of the 

 more brilliant birds ? As applied to mammals, 

 this theory breaks down still more completely, 

 and Allen is obliged to strain his instances very 

 much. For instance, the monkeys, though 

 affording some brightly coloured forms, are in 

 general a particularly dark or subfusc family. 

 The squirrels, again, offer no particular support 

 to his theory, their colouration offering a remark- 

 able analogy to that of the canines. Seriously, 

 who can contemplate the systematic colour of 

 the spotted and striped felines or viverrines, or 

 the systematic and delicate though not bright 

 markings of so many birds the sea-gulls, for 

 instance and think that they stand in any 

 relation to their food ? And the markings of the 

 bright-coloured birds stand in sufficient relation 

 to these to make us sure that the phenomena 

 are of like kind. Grant Allen accounts for the 



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