34 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



At such a time their actual colour can be of no 

 more use in the way of protecting them from their 

 keen-scented feline foes than if it were black or 

 red or grey. To me it seems far more probable 

 that the situtunga has gradually lost the stripes 

 and spots of the ancestral form from which it is 

 derived, and assumed a uniform dull brown colora- 

 tion, because it has lived for ages amongst reed beds 

 of one dull monotonous colour, than because a 

 uniform brown coat affords it a special protection 

 against carnivorous foes. 



I gather from the writings of Mr. A. R. Wallace 

 and other well-known naturalists that, whereas the 

 coloration of all animals is supposed to be due to 

 the need of protection from carnivorous beasts, 

 many species have developed in addition what are 

 known as recognition marks, to enable them to 

 distinguish members of their own species from 

 nearly allied forms, or to help them to quickly 

 recognise and rejoin the members of the herd or 

 family from which they may have been separated. 



That many large mammals belonging to different 

 genera, and living in widely separated parts of the 

 globe, are marked with conspicuous patches of white 

 on the rump, neck, or face, or throw up bushy tails 

 when running, showing a large white under surface, 

 is an indisputable fact, though it is not possible to 

 say that the possession of such a conspicuous colora- 

 tion is absolutely necessary to the well-being of any 

 particular species, because there will nearly always 

 be other species living in the same country, and 

 subject to the attacks of the same predatory 

 animals, in which these so-called recognition marks 

 are absent. However, on the supposition that 

 carnivorous animals hunt by sight, it seems to me 

 that no animal can be said to be protectively 

 coloured which is marked in any way so conspicu- 

 ously as to be recognisable by others of its own 



