298 
SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. 
Part II- 
us to believe were primarily acquired by tbe males, have 
been transmitted equally, or almost equally, to both 
sexes ; and we may now enquire how far this vie"' 
may be extended to mammals. With a considerable 
number of species, especially the smaller kinds, both 
sexes have been coloured, independently of sexual selec- 
tion, for the sake ot protection ; but not, as far as I can 
judge, in so many cases, nor in nearly so striking a 
manner as in most of the lower classes. Audubon re* 
marks that he often mistook the musk-rat , 35 whilst sitting 
on the banks of a muddy stream, for a clod of earth, so 
complete was the resemblance. The hare on her form 
is a familiar instance ot concealment through colour ’ 
yet this principle partly fails in a closely-allied species, 
namely the rabbit, for as this animal runs to its burro"', 
it is made conspicuous to the sportsman and no doubt 
to all beasts of prey, by its upturned pure-white tail- 
No one has ever doubted that the quadrupeds which 
inhabit snow-clad regions, have been rendered white to 
protect them from their enemies, or to favour their 
stealing on their prey. In regions where snow never 
lies long on the ground a white coat would be inju' 
lious ; consequently species thus coloured are extremely 
rare in the hotter parts of the world. It deserves notice 
that many quadrupeds, inhabiting moderately cold re* 
gions, although they do not assume a white winter dress, 
become paler during this season ; and this apparently' 
is the direct result of the conditions to which they 
have long been exposed. Pallas 36 states that in Sibe- 
ria a change of this nature occurs with the wolf, two 
species ol Alustela, the domestic horse, the Equus 
3j Filer zibelMcus , Audubon and Bachman. ‘The Quadrupeds of 
X. America,* 18-16, p. 109. 
30 ‘Novso species Quadrupedum e Glirium ordine,* 1778, p. 7. Wh** 
I have called the roe is the Capreolus Sibiricus subecauclatus of Pallas. 
