THE. COLOUR SENSE.
Some ingenious experimenters at the Zoo, who have recently proved that monkeys have a colour sense. assert that this is a gift virtually denied to all lower mammals. Is it ? The filet if true, would be surprising, for animals of most other kinds delight in colon•. The latest writer on flies for fishing pur- poses gives reason for believing that fish have a strong pre- ference for red ; and the general belief that they can detect differences of colour begins quite to oust the older theory. Lubbock, with many other observers and experimenters. proved the preference of bees for particular colours. quite isolated from the smell of particular flowers. Birds, of course, glory in colour. The peacock does not spread its tail for nothing, and the sparrow much prefers the yellow to the white crocus. Of course, in dogs and indeed most mammals - especially sheep, the master sense is smell. It is not only vastly acuter than other senses : it dominates them. But why hold that they have no sense of colour ? When my dog shows his disgust at a blue serge suit (which indicates not a country walk but London) does he not sec that it is blue ?
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