CONCLUSION. 313 



of animals with which we are familiar were 

 developed long ages before Roger Bacon or his 

 Chinese predecessors taught men the lethal 

 power of "villanous saltpetre." Nay, more, I 

 am inclined to assert that even such primitive 

 missiles as the arrow, the spear, and the sling- 

 stone are all too new to be classed among nature's 

 moulding forces. Still, if we ignore these new- 

 fangled agents of destruction, we yet find plenty 

 of ancient date which might be called down by 

 the flaunting of a white tail. Doubtless if keen- 

 sighted wild dogs started several of a herd of 

 antelopes at the same instant, they would gen- 

 erally follow after the one which rendered itself 

 most conspicuous, so that if one animal of the 

 herd had a white stern and the others had not, it 

 would incur much oreater dang-er than its fellows. 

 Again, birds of prey, which depend entirely upon 

 sight, would naturally direct their course towards 

 the creature which could be most easily followed 

 by the eye, and an eagle dashing suddenly among 

 a number of rabbits would be much more likely 

 to pounce upon one showing a considerable sur- 

 face of white than upon one which was almost 

 exactly the same colour as its surroundings. 

 Here, then, is apparently a remarkable conflict 



