Coloration 1 3 



step in the development of what may be termed the modern or specialised 

 type of coloration is presented by forms like the Malayan sambar, in which 

 the colour of the pelage is some shade of uniform dark brown at all seasons, 

 although spots are still retained by the fawns. And the culminating stage 

 is presented by the Indian sambar and the elk, in which the coat is uniformly 

 dark-coloured at all seasons and all ages. It is not a little remarkable that 

 while this highly specialised type of coloration is presented by so many 

 members of the sambar group, all retain antlers of a comparatively simple type. 



The general darkness of coloration noticeable in the sambar group, which 

 is as remarkable in the spotted Philippine deer as in the typical forms, appears 

 to be an instance of that tendency towards blackness, either universal or 

 individual, observable in many animals inhabiting moist and generally warm 

 districts. 1 But, as exemplified by the case of the chital and swamp-deer, 

 this melanistic tendency need not affect all the members of a group or family 

 inhabiting the same or similar areas. Another example of the same tendency 

 is well exemplified by the gradual darkening of the coloration of the forms 

 allied to the Virginian deer as they approach the hot humid districts of 

 tropical America, where this dark pelage is retained throughout the year. 

 The dark coat of the elk is also developed in an animal essentially an 

 inhabitant of humid, although colder, districts. What led to the permanent 

 "melanism" of the dark-coated British variety of the fallow deer does not at 

 present admit of determination. 



In those species of deer presenting a marked difference between the 

 coloration of the summer and the winter coat, there is not only a distinct 

 change in this respect at the time of assumption of each pelage, but minor 

 changes are going on almost continuously throughout the year. In con- 

 sequence of this the same animal looks different almost every month, if not 

 every week ; and the task of describing its true coloration becomes almost a 

 matter of impossibility. Indeed, in such cases a coloured portrait of the 

 animal is a true representation only for an extremely limited period ; and to 

 obtain an adequate idea of the gradual changes the creature ought to stand 

 for its portrait at least every fortnight. Fading of the colour of the hair, 

 especially on certain portions of the body, seems to play an important part 

 in such gradual changes ; the light-coloured patches on the rump of most 

 members of the red deer group and of the roes exemplifying this fading. 



1 See a paper on " Melanism " by Dr. E. Lonnberg, published in the Zool. Jahrbuck for 1897. 



