48 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



males are of a pale red-yellow, with spots and stripes much 

 more faintly marked than in the adult animal. The adult 

 female is of a rich dark red, beautifully spotted with white, and 

 with three or four faint white stripes on each side, and a dark 

 spinal line. The young female is of a lighter red, and not so 

 much spotted. In Cape Colony and on the Limpopo, young 

 Bushbucks are more spotted than adults ; they gradually lose 

 their markings as they become older ; while on the Chobe and 

 on the tributaries of the Zambesi this order of things is reversed. 

 Adult animals are far more beautifully marked than young ones.' 



Then of Tragelaphus 6/)^/^« (Sclater) he says : ' A foetus had the 

 skin striped and spotted yellowish-white, as in the adult Bushbuck 

 of the Chobe. Another recently born had a lighter colour, and 

 fainter spots and stripes ; the adult is of a uniform greyish-brown 

 without either spots or stripes.' 



From all this it would appear that the spotting and striping of 

 the Bushbucks does not depend on either age or sex, and that the 

 individuals of this genus differ much in marking and colouring ; 

 but, although differing so much as to become almost distinct 

 species, physiologically they remained one species ; and, living 

 together in the African bush, they must have crossed and have 

 become mixed up, so that the life-history of one individual seems 

 somehow to give successive photographs, as it were, of the life- 

 history of the race. 



Anything more bewildering than the facts placed before the 

 reader by this hunter-naturalist of Africa cannot well be imagined. 



It is impossible to read Mr. Selous' book and not feel convinced 

 that these Antelopes, when living for months in waterless tracts, 

 are at the mercy of their surroundings, not only for their life, but 

 also for the physiology of their skins. For at p. 207 he says 

 that in some parts of the country, for several months in the year. 



