LOSS OF CALCAREOUS ARMOUR IN MAMMALS 203 



although she had been to the 'Zoo' hundreds of times, yet had 

 never seen the spots on the Lions. 



For some reason, spotting appears to endure longest on the legs, 

 and striping on the tail. The spots, stripes, and ring-tails of 

 animals are hieroglyphics which appear to have a profounder 

 meaning, as to the origin of those that bear them — and possibly 

 also to our own origin. — than may have been suspected. 



It is difficult to look upon the ringed tail as otherwise than 

 a remnant of a spotted or striped body. As there are numerous 

 animals, such as Racoons, Coatis, and, many others, which have 

 only this remaining vestige of a spotted ancestry, it will be seen 

 how many animals must have lost their body spotting. 



Both for observation among animals in a state of nature, and 

 among those under domestication, and also for experiments in 

 cross-breeding, there is an almost unexplored field open to any one 

 who may be interested in evolutionary biology ; I mean the 

 study of the changes which occur, from birth to old age, in the 

 markings of the skins of animals. The changes that occur in the 

 pigments of the skin are tell-tales, not only of the organic phases 

 that particular animal has descended through, but also of the 

 atomic changes in the nerve-centres which occur in the life of the 

 individual. 



We come now to the discussion regarding the probable cause 

 of the loss of the calcareous armour in mammals. 



In the evolutions and revolutions which have occurred among 

 organisms from the beginning of time, one might well ask what 

 has caused the loss of those unwieldy bony carapaces and shields, 

 which, in the case of the Glyptodon, as Professor Parker remarked, 

 ' looked as if made for eternity ' ? 



Of course no one would suppose that plate-armour of that sort 

 was dispensed with all of a sudden, although it is conceivable that 



