434 



THE DESCENT OP MAN. 



and become confused; and above this limit the whole upper end 

 of the feather (a) is covered with white dots, surrounded by- 

 little black rings, standing on a dark ground. The oblique stripe 



belonging to the uppermost ocellus 

 (b) is barely represented by a very- 

 short irregular black mark with the 

 usual, curved, transverse base. As 

 this stripe is thus abruptly cut off, 

 we can perhaps understand from 

 what has gone before, how it Is that 

 the upper thickened part of the ring 

 is here absent; for, as before 

 stated, this thickened part appar- 

 « 'jft-^ ' "' "S»'J'' S'^"!^ ently stands in some relation with 

 K.7«\,5^^ J^it\.£,« ^^ ^ broken prolongation from the next 



higher spot. From the absence of 

 the upper and thickened part of the 

 ring, the uppermost ocellus, though 

 perfect in all other respects, ap- 

 pears as if its top had been obliquely 

 sliced off. It would, I think, per- 

 plex any one, who believes that the 

 plumage of the Argus-pheasant was 

 created as we now see it, to account 

 for the imperfect condition of the 

 uppermost ocellus. I should add 

 that on the secondary wing-feather 

 farthest from the body, all the 

 ocelli are smaller and less perfect 

 than on the other feathers, and 

 have the upper part of the ring de- 

 ficient, as in the case just men- 

 tioned. The Imperfection here 

 seems to be connected with the fact 

 that the spots on this feather show 

 less tendency than usual to become 

 confluent into stripes; they are on 

 and-socket ocellus. (The the contrary, often broken up into 

 shading- above the white smaller spots, so that two or three 

 rows run down to the same 

 ocellus: 



There still remains another very 



curious point, first observed by 



which deserves attention. In a photograph. 



Fig. 61. Portion near summit 

 of one of the secondary 

 wing'-feathers, bearing- per- 

 fect ball-and-socket ocelli. 



a. Ornamented upper part. 



b. Uppermost, imperfect ball- 



mark on the summit of 



the ocellus is here a little 



too dark.) 



Perfect ocellus. 



Mr. T. W. Woods,' 



"1 The 'Field,' May 28, 1S70. 



