KECOGNITION-MAEKS 173 



tered trees and bushes ; and as these animals roam over a 

 great extent of country in search of food or water, and are 

 also liable to the attacks of many dangerous beasts of prey, 

 their safety depends largely on their keeping together in small 

 or large herds. There are nearly a hundred different kinds 

 of antelopes known to inhabit Africa, the larger part of them 

 being found in Central and South Africa. Almost all of these 

 have very distinctive markings on a general ground-colour 

 harmonising with the tint of the soil or rock. These mark- 

 ings are usually confined to white patches on the head and 

 face, and on the hinder parts, so as to be visible in the two 

 directions that are most serviceable.-^ I have also come to 

 the conclusion that the horns of these animals, though pri- 

 marily developed as weapons of defence — for even the lion 

 is occasionally killed by the horns of the gemsbuck — have 

 been so changed in each species as to serve another purpose, 

 as is so often the case in nature. Their curious modifica- 

 tions of form in closely allied species, and their extreme 

 diversity in the whole group, leads me to conclude that their 

 actual shapes have been produced quite as much for purposes 

 of recognition as for attack or defence. While moving among 

 high grass or bushes, or when at rest and '^ ruminating," the 

 horns would often be the only part visible at a distance ; and 

 this, in a district inhabited by perhaps a dozen different species 

 of these animals, would be of the greatest importance in guid- 

 ing a wanderer back to his own herd, and for other purposes. 

 To illustrate this I here give views of the horns or heads of 

 twelve different species of antelopes all found in Central or 

 South Africa, and thus often meeting in the same valley or 

 veldt. To these I call the reader's special attention (Figs. 24- 

 35). 



The first group of four shows two of the larger antelopes 



1 The beautiful gazelle figured in my Darwinism (p. 219) shows both 

 these kinds of markings very strongly; while an examination of the numer- 

 ous figures of antelopes in Wood's Natural History (or in any of the more 

 recent illustrated works) aff'ords numerous examples of them. 



