xxxii STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



the Jaguar, the stripes on the Tiger and Zebra, the dapples on the 

 Horse into being ? Undoubtedly they must have some reference 

 to ancestral features. What ancestor or ancestors have these 

 existing features been . inherited from, for assuredly they present 

 evidence of inheritance as much as the bones of their skeletons ? 



We should make a distinction between the general coloration 

 of an animal and its spot or stripe colouring ; both are liable to 

 vary independently. The Cheetah, the Dalmatian Dog, and certain 

 Horses and other animals are black-spotted ; while certain Deer, 

 Phalangers, and certain Horses are white spotted. 



Fossils certainly give us the structure of extinct animals, but I 

 hope to show that they can also tell us something, if not so 

 certainly, about the probable origin of certain markings we see on 

 existing animals. But in order to see all this a good deal of the 

 imaginative faculty will have to be brought into play. 



Probably zoologists may look upon the markings of animals as 

 trivial and unimportant features, yet it would seem that markings, 

 if not the general coloration, are important zoological features, and 

 may tell a tale as interesting as that told by the teeth. Of course 

 skin coloration and markings are more liable to change, because 

 they have to adapt themselves perhaps more intimately to the 

 surroundings in which the animals happen to move. 



Great importance among zoologists seems to be placed on the 

 character of the teeth of animals in grouping them for the purposes 

 of classification, as if these were absolutely the only characters that 

 are inherited. 



The reason why so much importance has been given to teeth 

 as a character indicating descent is that fossil vertebrates have 

 rarely anything but their simple skeleton to show what they may 

 have been like, and certainly the teeth may indicate their habits. 

 The skin characters have usually wholly disappeared, and we have 



