540 



THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



The same conclusion may perhaps be extended to the tiger, one 

 of the most beautiful animals in the world, the sexes of which 

 cannot be distinguished by color, even by the dealers in wild 

 beasts. Mr. Wallace believes^ that the striped coat of the tiger 

 "so assimilates with the vertical stems of the bamboo, as to 

 "assist greatly in concealing him from his approaching prey." 

 But this view does not appear to me satisfactory. We have soma 



Fig. 71. Damalis pygarg-a, male (from the Knowsley Menagerie). 



slight evidence that his beauty may be due to sexual selection, 

 for in two species of Felis the analogous marks and colors are 

 rather brighter in the male than in the female. The zebra is 

 conspicuously striped, and stripes cannot afford any protection 

 on the open plains of South Africa. BurchelP in describing a 

 herd says, "their sleek ribs glistened in the sun, and the hright- 

 "ness and regularity of their striped coats presented a picture of 

 "extraordinary beauty, in which probably they are not surpassed 



™ 'Westminster Review,' July 1, 1867, p. 5. 



•» "Travels in South Africa," 1824, vol. ii. p. 315. 



