no The Ottawa Naturalist. [August 



often witnessed in a litter of kittens or rabbits. The same litter 

 of kittens may contain white, black, piebald, and tortoise-shell 

 individuals. But in a wild condition cats and rabbits are of a 

 sombre or uniform colour, and one individual of either species is 

 virtually just like any other individual. The reason of this is 

 that the dull inconspicuous colour corresponds more or less with 

 the creature's surroundings, so that the wild-cat is disguised 

 from the birds upon which it preys, and therefore is the better 

 equipped to approach them stealthily ; and the rabbit on the 

 other hand is the better concealed from the attacks of the wily 

 fox or other foe. Now when cats or rabbits are domesticated, 

 any individuals manifesting unwonten conspicuous colours in- 

 stead of the usual uniform greys have no creatures on the alert 

 or foes to observe them, hence there is no call for the survival of 

 the fittest, and in course of time we have cats and rabbits, and 

 in the same way cows and horses, black, white, brown, or 

 spotted. If domestic cats and rabbits were suddenly to revert 

 to a wild state, and yet could retain their conspicuous colours, the 

 former would catch very few birds, and the latter would escape 

 very few foxes, and soon they would cease to exist. Now Star- 

 fishes do not require to be hidden from enemies, because they 

 have few enemies, and they do not require to be disguised from 

 their prey, because just as a cow gets plenty to eat in a field of 

 clover, so the rapacious Star-fish gets all it can desire in the 

 luscious bivalves which are permanently moored by a byssus in 

 thousands to its habitat. Therefore a uniform or sombre colour 

 is not requisite, and their conspicuous yellow, purple, or brown 

 tints may be thus accounted for. 



The Urchins, observed in this locality, have moveable 

 spines of a beautiful purple. Unlike the Star-fishes they 

 never come out of the water, but under its surface can make 

 their way into crevices of the rocks. The shell of a Sea-urchin, 

 which is remarkably symmetrical in shape, is not composed, as 

 might appear, of one piece, but of hundreds of plates sutured 



