4 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



conclusion that most Mammals, at least, had a spotted ancestry 



more or less remote, not even excluding the Marsupials of 



Australia. 



The earliest record that I have met with of a striped Mammal 



is that shown in Fig. i. It is the bone handle of a poignard 



of a prehistoric period. It 

 represents some kind of deer 

 which had partial broad stripes 

 on its flanks, evidently ves- 

 tiges of something like the 



Fig. I. — Cast of a handle of poignard found at , u A ' ^V* 



Bruniquel, on the river Aseyran, France. (Brit. zebra bands m tne same 

 Mus. ; Mammoth and Reindeer period. ) resions. 



It might perhaps be thought, as an alternative, that these 

 marks were not intended by the carver to indicate skin-stripes, 

 but merely the projections of the ribs. 



If, however, we consider that, if the prehistoric savage knew 

 anything, he must have known a greai deal about the ribs of the 

 animals he was continually hunting, cutting up, and feeding upon, 

 we shall see that he must have known that the ribs of the deer 

 did not extend to its haunches. Therefore, the transverse stripings 

 on this ancient model of a deer can hardly be taken to have 

 been meant to indicate the projections of the ribs, but are more 

 likely to have been meant for skin-stripes. Moreover, if the 

 reader will turn to Appendix A, Fig. 22, he will see an 

 antelope with striping not very unlike that of this prehistoric 

 relic. 



I shall, however, leave this point to be decided by archaeologists 

 and paleontologists, and proceed with my story. 



What causes the changes in the markings of different animals, 

 and at different ages, I do not know. Presumably atomic changes 

 in the nerve centres, initiated by surroundings, heredity, or what 



