538 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



white and brown piebald rabbits in a large walled orchard; and 

 he had at the same time some similarly colored cats in his house. 

 Such cats, as I have often noticed, are very conspicuous during 

 day; but as they used to lie in watch during the dusk at the 

 mouths of the burrows, the rabbits apparently did not distinguish 

 them from their parti-colored brethren. The result was that, 

 within eighteen months, every one of these parti-colored rabbits 

 were destroyed; and there was evidence that this was effected 

 by the cats. Color seems to be advantageous to another animal, 

 the skunk, in a manner of which we have had many instances 

 in other classes. No animal will voluntarily attack one of these 

 creatures on account of the dreadful odor which it emits when 

 irritated; but during the dusk it would not easily be recognized 

 and might be attacked by a beast of prey. Hence it is, as Mr. 

 Belt believes," that the skunk is provided with a great white 

 bushy tail, which serves as a conspicuous warning. 



Although we must admit that many quadrupeds have received 

 their present tints either as a protection, or as an aid in procuring 

 prey, yet with a host of species, the colors are far too conspicuous 

 and too singularly arranged to allow us to suppose that they serve 

 for these purposes. We may take as an illustration certain ante- 

 lopes; when we see the square white patch on the throat, the 

 white marks on the fetlocks, and the round black spots on the 

 ears, all more distinct in the male of the Portax picta than in the 

 female; — when we see that the colors are more vivid, that the 

 narrow white lines on the flank and the broad white bar on the 

 shoulder are more distinct in the male Oreas derbyanus than in 

 the female;— when we see a similar difference between the sexes 

 of the curiously-ornamented Tragelaphus scriptus (fig. 70), — we 

 cannot believe that differences of this kind are of any service to 

 either sex in their daily habits of life. It seems a much more 

 probable conclusion that the various marks were first acquired 

 by the males and their colors intensified through sexual selection, 

 and then partially transferred to the females. If this view be 

 admitted, there can be little doubt that the equally singular colors 

 and marks of many other antelopes, though common to both 

 sexes, have been gained and transmitted in a like manner. Both 

 sexes, for instance, of the koodoo (Strepsiceros kudu) (fig. 64) 

 have narrow white vertical lines on their hind flanks, and an 

 elegant angular white mark on their foreheads. Both sexes in 

 the genus Damalis are very oddly colored; in D. pygarga the 

 back and neck are purplish-red, shading on the flanks into black; 

 and these colors are abruptly separated from the white belly and 

 from a large white space on the buttocks; the head is still more 



s' 'The Naturalist in Nicaragua,' p. 249. 



