1 30 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



the. spine, when, on the flanks, shoulders, and hind-quarters all markings 

 have disappeared. The total obliteration of markings we begin to notice 

 on the hind quarters -and legs of the Quagga. Either the spinal line, or 

 the leg stripes, or both, seem to persist when the body becomes plain. 

 Why it should be so, if it is so, I do not know ; (c) I have tried to account 

 for this spinal dark line, as a picture-remnant of the dorsal ligament, 

 which, in the little Pichiciago, binds the horny carapace to the spinal 

 line. 



This curious little Armadilloid mammal seems to be a survival of a 

 transition stage between the bony-carapaced Glyptodonts and the hairy 

 mammals, the former, as I think, having been the fathers and mothers, 

 not only of carapaced mammals, but also of all hairy mammals and I 

 take it the Jaguar presents us with good evidence of all this. 



But after all this dorsal line may perhaps be of little importance; for 

 any one can see, in the Tiger skins of the furriers' shops, that, in certain 

 specimens, some of the transverse stripes merely meet at the spine, while 

 others, after meeting, are conjointly prolonged in the direction of the tail. 

 What is curious is this : that, in some mammals, this dorsal line is white. 



P. 5. 'Then again, in the ungulates we have the Zebra-Antelope, the 

 Gnus, and the Zebras showing most strongly-marked transverse dark stripes ; 

 but we have no dark-spotted forms in the whole order except the Giraffes ; 

 while the only ones with dark longitudinal stripes are young Pigs. And it 

 would thus appear that, although all the animals above mentioned are highly 

 specialised species, these transverse stripes and dark blotches must have 

 originated de novo quite independently of the groups in question.' 



I must humbly beg to differ from all this. I have shown that Horses 

 do not unfrequently have dark, spots even one little Donkey had them 

 and that, in the grey-dappled Horse, the white spots are sometimes 

 arranged in transverse series of lines. These, by fusion, would give an 

 alternation of white and dark stripes. The blotches of the Giraffe assimilate 

 with the blotches of the Horse. Then the rosettes of the Zebu of this 

 work are almost identical with those of certain dappled Horses. 



As the coloration both of the Giraffe and the Zebra harmonises with 

 their surroundings, Mr. Lydekker thinks p. 6, that, 



' It is incredible that both types should have been evolved, according to a 

 rigid rule from animals marked by dark longitudinal stripes,' 



