ii THE ARCTIC WINTER 



of the richly coloured environment in which it was 

 first evolved into the dull -coloured plains of its 

 present habitat, where it subsequently became 

 isolated owing to the desiccation of the intervening 

 country. 



Could the opening up of Africa by the destructive 

 civilised races have been delayed for a few hundred 

 or a few thousand years, the blesbok would no doubt 

 have lost the white blaze down the face as com- 

 pletely as it has lost the white disc over the tail, 

 which is so conspicuous a feature in the coloration 

 of its immediate ancestor, the bontebok. To those 

 who believe that every spot or stripe or patch of 

 colour on every animal is a beautiful illustration 

 of the truth of the theory of protective coloration, 

 this may seem a very fanciful idea. Yet I feel 

 convinced that the influence of environment has 

 played a greater part than is generally believed in 

 the evolution of colour in living organisms. The 

 weak point in the theory of protective coloration 

 when applied to large mammals is the fact that 

 all carnivorous animals are nocturnal and seek their 

 prey habitually by night and by scent, and only 

 occasionally by daylight and by sight. 



I submit that the beautiful case in the Central 

 Hall of the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington showing an Arctic fox, in its white 

 winter coat, approaching a Polar hare, also in 

 winter dress, and an ermine (stoat) hunting for 

 ptarmigan (evidently by sight) gives an entirely 

 false view of the struggle for life as carried on by 

 animals inhabiting the Arctic Regions, for it conveys 

 the idea of the carnivorous animals of those snow- 

 covered wastes hunting for their prey in a bright 

 light and by eyesight alone. 



But the truth is that the Arctic winter, during 

 the long continuance of which all living resident 

 creatures, with the exception of the musk ox, become 



