PROTECTIVE COLORATION 
515 
ment so sweepingly made is entirely incorrect. As I have already 
shown, there are great numbers of animals to which it cannot apply ; 
and some of the very animals which do escape observation in com¬ 
plete fashion are coloured utterly differently when compared one 
with the other, although their habitats are the same. The intricate 
pattern of the leopard, and the uniform, simple pattern of the 
cougar, seem equally efficient under precisely similar conditions ; 
and so do all the intermediate patterns when the general tint is 
neutral; and even the strikingly-coloured melanistic forms of these 
creatures seem as well fed and successful as the others. Mono¬ 
coloured cougars and spotted jaguars, black leopards and spotted 
leopards, and other cats of all tints and shades, broken or unbroken, 
are frequently found in the same forests, dwelling under precisely 
similar conditions, and all equally successful in eluding observation 
and in catching their prey. 
One of the most extreme, and most unwarrantable, of the 
positions taken by the ultra-advocates of the protective-coloration 
theory is that in reference to certain boldly-marked black and 
white animals, like skunks and Colobus monkeys, whose coloration 
patterns they assert to be obliterative. In skunks, the coloration 
is certainly not protective in any way against foes, as every human 
being must know if he has ever come across skunks by night or by 
day in the wilderness; their coloration advertises their presence to 
all other creatures which might prey on them. In all probability, 
moreover, it is not of the slightest use in helping them obtain the 
little beasts on which they themselves prey. Mr. Thayer’s 44 sky- 
pattern ” theory about skunks cannot apply, for bears, which are 
equally good mousers and insect-grubbers, have no white on them, 
nor have fishers, weasels, raccoons, or foxes; and in any event the 
44 sky-pattern” would not as often obliterate the skunk from the 
view of its prey as it would advertise it to its prey. It is to the 
last degree unlikely that any mouse or insect is ever more easily 
caught because of the white 44 sky-pattern ” on the skunk ; and it 
is absolutely certain that any of these little creatures that trust to 
their eyes at all must have their vision readily attracted by the 
skunk’s bold coloration; and the skunk’s method of hunting is 
incompatible with deriving benefit from its coloration. Besides, it 
usually hunts at night, and at night the white 44 sky-pattern ” is 
not a sky-pattern at all, but is exceedingly conspicuous, serving as 
an advertisement. 
The big black and white Colobus monkey has been adduced as 
an instance of the 44 concealing ” quality of bold and conspicuous 
coloration patterns. Of course, as I have said before, there is no 
conceivable pattern which may not, under some wholly exceptional 
circumstances, be of use from the protective standpoint; a soldier 
in a black frock-coat and top-hat, with white duck trousers, might 
