470 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
are emphasized in colour. In spotted animals the greatest length 
of the spot is generally in the direction of the largest development 
of the skeleton.” * Mr. Tylor had assuredly not read an African 
observation made by the late Dr. Livingstone, or he would 
have as certainly incorporated it in his essay as evidence for his 
theory, and which it may be almost said to have partly antici- 
pated. Dr. Livingstone writes:—‘‘ The Poodle Dog Chitané is 
rapidly changing the colour of its hair. All the parts corre- 
sponding to the ribs and neck are rapidly becoming red; the 
majority of country Dogs are of this colour.” + Emin Pasha 
does not corroborate this statement of Livingstone respecting 
the markings of Central African Dogs. He describes them as 
“usually of a buff colour.” { As regards the reddish colour of 
the Central African Dogs as described by Livingstone, it must 
be remembered that many domesticated Dogs are considered to 
have been the result of taming different wild species of Canide, 
and that the Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas), which is 
found from Nubia to the Cape, has a light red skin with a black 
dorsal stripe. According to Lydekker, in the Prairie Wolf of 
North America (Canis latrans), ‘‘the colour varies considerably 
at different seasons of the year, being of a bright fulvous-brown 
in summer, and grey or greyish in winter; this ground colour at 
both seasons being overlaid with a shading of black, which tends 
to form stripes along the back and across the shoulders and loins.” § 
Another peculiarity in African Dogs has been recorded by Blumen- 
bach :—‘‘ The Guinea Dog (which Linnezus calls C. egyptius—I 
do not know why) is, like the men of that climate, distinguished 
for the velvety softness of his smooth skin, and the great and 
nearly specific cutaneous perspiration.” || Darwin, discussing the 
animals under consideration, is inclined to ascribe spots and stripes 
as due to his theory of “sexual selection,” the ornamentation 
having firstly been acquired by the males, and then transmitted 
equally, or almost equally, to both sexes. He adds: ‘‘ After having 
studied to the best of my ability the sexual differences of animals 
* Colouration in Animals and Plants,’ p. 92. 
+ ‘Livingstone’s Last Journals,’ vol. i. p. 95. 
{| ‘Emin Pasha in Central Africa,’ p. 80. 
§ ‘Roy. Nat. Hist.,’ vol. i. p. 501. 
|| ‘ Anthropological Treatises,’ Eng. transl. p. 191. 
