ii BUSHBUCKS, 1NYALAS, & SITUTUNGAS 33 



evidence, I think, that both these animals are 

 descended from one ancestral form. 



Now the only animal that preys habitually on 

 bushbucks, inyalas, and situtungas is the leopard, 

 and as leopards hunt by night and by scent, I 

 cannot believe that the very different outward 

 appearance of the various races of bushbucks 

 inhabiting different parts of Africa is to be 

 accounted for by the theory of protective colora- 

 tion. The males and females of the Cape bushbuck 

 and of the inyala antelope are very different one 

 from another in the colour of their coats, but this 

 does not seem to be prejudicial to either sex, 

 though there is absolutely no difference in their 

 habits or their habitat. In all the different races of 

 bushbucks, however, with which I am acquainted, 

 the males are much darker in colour than the 

 females, so that it is not so very surprising that in 

 the case of the inyala and the Cape bushbuck 

 the males should have been the first to lose their 

 stripes and spots in a sombre environment. In the 

 case of the Cape bushbuck the adult females have 

 already lost all the stripes and most of the spots 

 of the ancestral form. The female inyala is, how- 

 ever, one of the most distinctly striped and spotted 

 representatives of the tragelaphine group. 



I cannot see that facts support the opinion that 

 the uniform dull brown coloration of both sexes of 

 the southern race of situtunga has been brought 

 about for the purpose of protection from carnivorous 

 enemies. During the daytime these animals live 

 in the midst of beds of reeds growing in water 

 where they cannot be approached except by wad- 

 ing ; but at night they are often killed by leopards, 

 and perhaps sometimes by lions, whilst feeding just 

 outside the reed beds, on open ground which has 

 perhaps been recently swept by a veld fire, and 

 where young reeds and grass are just sprouting. 



D 



