302 
SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. 
Part II. 
tlie best of my ability the sexual differences of animals 
belonging to all classes, I cannot avoid the conclusion 
that the curiously-arranged colours of many antelopes, 
though common to both sexes, are the result of sexual 
selection primarily applied to the male. 
The same conclusion may perhaps be extended to the 
tiger, one of the most beautiful animals in the world, 
the sexes of which cannot be distinguished by colour, 
even by the dealers in wild beasts. Mr. Wallace 
believes that the striped coat of the tiger so assi- 
milates with the vertical stems of the bamboo, as to 
assist greatly in concealing him from his approaching 
prey.” But this view does not appear to me satisfac- 
tory. We have some slight evidence that his beauty 
may be due to sexual selection, for in two species of 
Felis analogous marks and colours are rather brighter 
in the male than in the female. The zebra is conspic- 
uously striped, and stripes on the open plains of South 
Africa cannot afford any protection. BurchelP^ in de- 
scribing a herd says, their sleek ribs glistened in the 
sun, and the brightness and regularity of their striped 
coats presented a picture of extraordinary beauty, in 
which probably they are not surpassed by any other 
quadruped.” Here we have no evidence of sexual 
selection, as throughout the whole group of the Equidae 
the sexes are identical in colour. Nevertheless he who 
attributes the white and dark vertical stripes on the 
flanks of various antelopes to sexual selection, will pro- 
bably extend the same view to the Eoyal Tiger and 
beautiful Zebra. 
We have seen in a former chapter that when young 
animals belonging to any class follow nearly the same 
‘ Westminster Keview/ July 1, 1867, p. 5. 
‘ Travels in South Africa/ 1824, vol. ii. p. 315, 
