THE SARDINIAN MOUFFLON 



hills bordering the deserts of Northern Africa, where 

 the vegetation is parched and scanty at all seasons 

 of the year, and the rocks of a red brown colour, is 

 itself of a uniform reddish brown which harmonises 

 exactly with its surroundings, and makes it very 

 difficult to detect when lying at rest amongst rocks. 

 This perfect harmony of coloration with its surround- 

 ings in the Barbary sheep may have been brought 

 about by the need of protection from enemies, but 

 seems to me far more likely to have been caused by 

 the influence of the colour of its environment, for 

 its four-footed foes hunt by scent and by night far 

 more than by sight during the daytime. 



The male moufflon of Sardinia, which lives in a 

 temperate climate where the colours of its surround- 

 ings are much brighter and more diversified than is 

 the case in the habitat of the Barbary sheep, is a 

 much more conspicuously coloured animal than the 

 latter, or than the females of its own kind. As the 

 females and young of the Sardinian moufflon, which 

 are of a uniform brown colour, are more difficult to 

 see than the males in their somewhat conspicuous 

 autumn and winter coats, the latter cannot be said 

 to be protectively coloured. Either through the 

 influence of sexual selection or that of an environ- 

 ment the general colour of which varies very greatly 

 at different seasons of the year, the male of the 

 Sardinian moufflon becomes during autumn and 

 winter conspicuously coloured compared with the 

 female, without detriment, however, to the well- 

 being of the species. 



During my long sojourn in the interior of South 

 Africa, I made large collections of butterflies. 

 There was one species {Precis at'taxia, Hewits) 

 which always puzzled me. This handsome insect 

 is only found in shady forests, is seldom seen fly- 

 ing until disturbed, and always sits on the ground 

 amongst dead leaves. Though handsomely coloured 



