APPENDIX E 
499 
not think that the stripes of the chipmunk are of any protective value; 
that is, I believe (and the case of-the weasel seems to me to prove) that 
its coloration would be at least as fully “ protectivewithout them. The 
striped gophers and gray gophers seem equally easy to see; they live in 
similar habitats and the stripes seem to have no protective effect one way 
or the other. 
It is when Mr. Thayer and the other extreme members of the protec¬ 
tive coloration school deal with the big game of Africa that they go most 
completely wide of the mark. For instance, Mr. Thayer speaks of the 
giraffe as a sylvan mammal with a checkered sun-fleck and leaf-colored 
pattern of coloration accompanied by complete obliterative shading, 
and the whole point of his remarks is that the giraffe’s coloration ‘‘al¬ 
ways maintains its potency for obliteration.” Now of course this means 
nothing unless Mr. Thayer intends by it to mean that the giraffe’s color¬ 
ation allows it to escape the observation of its foes. I doubt whether this 
is ever under any circumstances the case; that is, I doubt whether the 
giraffe’s varied coloration ever “enables” it to escape observation save 
as the dark monochrome of the elephant, rhinoceros, or buffalo may 
“enable” one of these animals to escape observation under practically 
identical conditions. There is of course no conceivable color or scheme 
of color which may not under some conceivable circumstances enable 
the bearer to escape observation; but if such coloring, for once that it 
enables the bearer to escape observation, exposes the bearer to observa¬ 
tion a thousand times, it cannot be called protective. I do not think that 
the giraffe’s coloration exposes it to observation on the part of its foes; 
I think that it simply has no effect whatsoever. The giraffe never trusts 
to escaping observation; its sole thought is itself to observe any possible 
foe. At a distance of a few hundred yards the color pattern becomes 
indistinct to the eye, and the animal appears of a nearly uniform tint, 
so that any benefit given by the color pattern must be comparatively 
close at hand. On the very rare occasions when beasts of prey—that is, 
lions—do attack giraffes, it is usually at night, when the coloration is of 
no consequence; but even by daylight I should really doubt whether any 
giraffe has been saved from an attack by lions owing to its coloration 
allowing it to escape observation. It is so big, and so queerly shaped, 
that any trained eyes detect it at once, if within a reasonable distance; 
it only escapes observation when so far off that its coloration does not 
count one way or the other. There is no animal which will not at times 
