472 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ment, and “when skulking through the dark shade, either of 
corinda or jungle, it would be almost impossible to make out his 
huge cat-like carcass creeping along like a silent shadow.” * 
Eimer also observes :—‘‘I have permitted myself to express the 
Supposition (Varuren, &c.) that the fact of the original prevalence 
of longitudinal striping might be connected with the original 
predominance of the monocotyledonous plants whose linear 
organs and linear shadows would have corresponded with the 
linear stripes of the animals; and further, that the conversion of 
the striping into a spot-marking might be connected with the 
development of a vegetation which cast spotted shadows. Itisa 
fact that several indications exist that in earlier periods the 
animal kingdom contained many more striped forms than is the 
case to-day.’ + To even fancy the appearance of animal and 
plant life in past geologic epochs, apart from structure as revealed 
by paleontology, is left to sober scientific imagination. We know 
there was a flowerless age, but even then animal life existed. Is 
it to be argued that such animal life had reached its development 
in colouration? Can we not more easily imagine that animals 
assimilated in colour with the monotonous and semi-sombre hues 
of their then environment; but as they multiplied and the 
struggle for existence caused migration, the same inherent 
tendency to assimilative colouration prompted assimilative varia- 
tion in response to the difference in surrounding conditions, and 
when this variation became adaptive and protective, the process 
of natural selection accentuated and perpetuated whatever was 
advantageous to the creature’s existence. 
The late Andrew Murray, in a paper read before the British 
Association in 1859, and just before or coincident with the 
appearance of Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species,’ appears to have held 
a similar impression, though not reaching the explanation of 
“natural selection.” His words well serve to conclude this 
discursive suggestion of original and universal assimilative 
colouration :—‘‘ We have seen that in all the instances to which 
I have referred, the external appearance of the animal bears 
definite relation to the appearance of the soil on which it lives, 
or the objects which surround it. It would appear as if there 
* ‘Curiosities of Natural History,’ Pop. Edit., 8rd ser., p. 256. 
+ ‘Organic Evolution,’ Eng. transl. p. 57. . 
