SEXUAL SELECTION 



567 



bear tlie perfect ball-and-socket ocelli, are peculiarly orna- 

 mented (Pig. 61). The oblique longitudinal stripes sud- 

 denly cease upward 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 be- 

 longing to the uppermost ocellus 

 (i) 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 under- 

 stand, from what has gone be- 

 fore, how it is that the upper 

 thickened part of the ring is here 

 absent; for, as before stated, this 

 thickened part apparently stands 

 in some relation with a broken 

 prolongation from the next higher 

 spot. From the absence of the 

 upper and thickened part of the 

 rmg, the uppermost ocellus, though 

 perfect in all other respects, ap- 

 pears as if its top had been ob- 

 liquely sliced off. It would, I 

 think, perplex any one, who be- on^'**of'\hf °/e"°oSda?r wil^^^ 

 lieves that the plumage of thetf^,t''r'o?^l^ZT;^r^^^ 

 Argus pheasant was created as we tiek^PfeeiS^; l¥hP|1gfdin\"aWe' 

 now see it, to account for the im- Si ocX's rhL°°a i&to^Tarkl 

 perfect condition of the upper- "• ^^'^^°' °'=^""^- 

 most ocellus. I should add that on the secondary wing- 

 feather furthest from the body all the ocelli are smaller 

 and less perfect than on the other feathers, and have the 

 upper part of the ring deficient, 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 



