MAMMALS— ORNAMENTS. 537 



of the individuals of one sex for certain individuals of the opposite 

 sex, combined with their success in leaving a larger number of 

 offspring to inherit their superior attractions. 



Equal i/ransmission of ornamental characters to both s«Kes.— " 

 With many birds, ornaments, which analogy leads us to believe 

 were primarily acquired by the males, have been transmitteO, 

 equally, or almost equally, to both sexes; and we may now in- 

 quire how far this view applies to mammals. With a considerable 

 number of species, especially of the smaller kinds, both sexes have 

 been colored, independently of sexual selection, for the sake of 

 protection; but not, as far as I can judge, in so many cases, nor 

 in so striking a manner, as in most of the lower classes. Audu- 

 bon remarks that he often mistook the musk-rat,^'' whilst sitting 

 on the banks of a muddy stream, for a clod of earth, so complete 

 was the resemblance. The hare on her form is a familiar instance 

 of concealment through color; yet this principle partly fails 

 in a closely-allied species, the rabbit, for when running to its 

 burrow, it is made conspicuous to the sportsman, and no doubt 

 to all beasts of prey, by its upturned white tail. No one doubts 

 that the quadrupeds inhabiting snow-clad regions have been 

 rendered white to protect them from their enemies, or to favor 

 their stealing on their prey. In regions where snow never lies 

 for long, a white coat would be injurious; consequently, species 

 of this color are extremely rare in the hotter parts of the world. 

 It deserves notice that many quadrupeds inhabiting moderately 

 cold regions, although they do not assume a white winter dress, 

 become paler during this season; and this apparently is the direct 

 result of the conditions to which they have long been exposed. 

 Pallas'" states that in Siberia a change of this nature occurs with 

 the woif, two species of Mustela, the domestic horse, the Equus 

 hemionus, the domestic cow, two species of antelopes, the musk- 

 deer, the roe, elk, and reindeer. The roe, for instance, has a red 

 summer and a grayish-white winter coat; and the latter may 

 perhaps serve as a protection to the animal whilst wandering 

 through the leafless thickets, sprinkled with snow and hoar-frost. 

 If the above-named animals were gradually to extend their range 

 into regions perpetually covered with snow, their pale winter- 

 coats would probably be rendered through natural selection, 

 whiter and whiter, until they became as white as snow. 



Mr. Reeks has given me a curious instance of an animal profit- 

 ing by being peculiarly colored. He raised from fifty to sixty 



^ Fiber zibethicus, Audubon and Bachman, 'The Quadrupeds of N. 

 America,' 1846, p. 109. 



s" 'Novae species Quadrupedum e Gllrium ordine,' 1778, p. 7. "What 

 I have called the roe is the Capreolus sibiricus subecaudatus of Pallas. 



