MAMMALS WITH CONTRASTED COLOURS 141 



stripe which so many animals present. This may perhaps be a 

 vestige of the attachment of this dorsal ligament in some ancestral 

 form, during the transition between the stage of plate-armour and 

 the stage of hair-covering. The spinal dark or white stripe of 

 certain animals might indicate that the general colour of the surface 

 altered earlier than the spinal surface, and therefore had time to 

 become contrasted in colour. I will not however press this point, 

 should the reader think it preposterous. It may be looked upon 

 as a mere suggestion. 



My contention is that the differently coloured dorsal and flank 

 regions of certain animals, as contrasted with the coloration of the 

 abdominal surface, is a vestige of the ancestral armoured carapace, 

 the sharp line on the flank indicating its margin, while the white, 

 or differently coloured abdomen, as in the Badger, the Egyptian 

 Zorille, and others, would indicate the ?^«armoured ventral surface 

 of the ancestral forms. The origin of the white patch behind 

 would fit into this theory, and would indicate the truncated 

 posterior margin of some ancestral carapace. 



In studying the Armadillo, we find that the abdomen, legs, and 

 under surface of the head and the throat are almost denuded of 

 scales, and much more so are the hind-legs of Kappler's Armadillo. 



Then in some Pangolins, we also find that the under surface of 

 the head, the throat, the inner aspect of the legs, and the abdomen, 

 are devoid of scales. 



It can readily be understood that scales on those parts would 

 prevent the animal from rolling himself up for defence. The loss 

 of scales in those parts, while it gave him greater freedom of move- 

 ment, enabled him to roll himself up, and protect those unarmoured 

 surfaces, just as a Hedgehog would do. 



Now in the Black Buck (Antilope cervicapra), instead of 

 armoured and unarmoured surfaces, we find simply contrasts of 



