MEANING OF JAGUAR AND LEOPARD ROSETTES 115 



of holes similar to those on the plates of this curious Dcedicurus, 

 now in the La Plata Museum ! 



In past ages there were numerous carapaced animals even as 

 low down as the fishes. Although I have been stating that the 

 Jaguar and other Cats probably descended from Glyptodontoid 

 ancestors, I do not mean that all the Cats descended from the sapie 

 pair of ancestors, for it is obvious that some may have descended 

 from one species, and others from others. Afterwards they may 

 have intercrossed, just as they are able to do now. For instance, 

 in the Cheetah, the marks are different from those of the Jaguar, 



S 



Fig. 66.— (a) and (b) are from Ostracions in the York Museum ; (c) from another Ostracion, 

 an armoured fish ; {d) from pelvic shield of a Tolypeutes, an Armadillo (from Fig. 1161, vol. n. 

 of Nicholson and Lydekker's Palmntology). 



and in the Horse we see transitions of marks which are like stars. 

 Here are some patterns of plate armour for the reader to choose 



from (Fig. 66). 



It may be asked. If other spotted animals have so much altered, 

 why has not the Jaguar? Well, somewhat similar questions are 

 often asked by women—' If we came from Monkeys, why do not 

 Monkeys now turn into men and women ? ! ' The answer is obvious 

 to the mind of an evolutionist. The ancestral form, like every 

 living thing, must either live or die. If it have endurance in its 

 constitution, and is also suited to its surroundings, it will endure 

 side by side with the variations which originated from it. In some 



