704 THE DESCENT OF 2LAN 



tndlis aVnfrona the coloring of the head differs from that 

 in the last species in a single white stripe replacing the 

 three stripes, and in the ears being almost wholly white.** 

 After having studied to the best of my ability the sexual 

 differences of animals belonging to all classes, I cannot 

 avoid the conclusion that the curiously arranged colors of 

 many antelopes, though common to both sexes, are the re- 

 sult of sexual selection primarily applied to the male. 



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 ver- 

 tical 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 some 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 con- 

 spicuously striped, and stripes cannot afford any protection 

 on the open plains of South Africa. Burchell," in describ- 

 ing a herd, says, "their sleek ribs glistened in the sun, and 

 the brightness and regularity of their striped coats presented 

 a picture of extraordinary beauty, in which probably they 

 are not surpassed by any other quadruped." But as 

 throughout the whole group of the EquidsB the sexes are 

 identical in color, we have here no evidence of sexual 

 selection. Nevertheless, he who attributes the white and 

 dark vertical stripes on the flanks of various antelopes to 

 this process will probably extend the same view to the 

 Eoyal Tiger and beautiful Zebra. 



We have seen in a former chapter that when young ani- 

 mals belonging to any class follow nearly the same habits of 



^ See the flue plates ia A. Smith's, "Zoology of S. Africa," and Dr. Gray's 

 "Gleanings from the Menagerie of Knowsley." 

 3» "■Westminster Review," July 1, 1861, p. 5. 

 «> "Travels in South Africa," 1824, vol. ii. p. 315. 



